Sonny's Blues

E346531

"Sonny's Blues" is a widely acclaimed short story by James Baldwin that explores themes of suffering, family, and redemption through the relationship between two brothers in Harlem and the transformative power of jazz.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Sonny's Blues canonical 2

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf short story ⓘ
author James Baldwin ⓘ
centralTheme addiction ⓘ
brotherhood ⓘ
family ⓘ
racism ⓘ
redemption ⓘ
suffering ⓘ
suffering and salvation through music ⓘ
the power of art ⓘ
the search for identity ⓘ
characterStruggle Sonny's heroin addiction ⓘ
collectionType short story collection ⓘ
countryOfOrigin United States ⓘ
criticalReception widely acclaimed ⓘ
explores communication and misunderstanding ⓘ
family responsibility ⓘ
redemptive potential of art ⓘ
urban African-American experience ⓘ
firstPublishedIn Partisan Review ⓘ
focusesOn relationship between two brothers ⓘ
transformative power of jazz ⓘ
frequentlyAnthologized true ⓘ
genre literary fiction ⓘ
short fiction ⓘ
hasAdaptation musical adaptations ⓘ
stage adaptations ⓘ
includedIn Going to Meet the Man ⓘ
language English ⓘ
literaryMovement African-American literature ⓘ
postwar American literature ⓘ
mainCharacter Sonny ⓘ
the unnamed narrator ⓘ
medium prose ⓘ
motif darkness and light ⓘ
imprisonment ⓘ
music ⓘ
narrativePointOfView first-person ⓘ
narratorRelationToSonny older brother ⓘ
originalPublicationYear 1957 ⓘ
protagonistOccupation high school algebra teacher ⓘ
settingCity New York City ⓘ
settingCountry United States ⓘ
settingLocation Harlem ⓘ
taughtIn African-American studies courses ⓘ
American literature courses ⓘ
creative writing courses ⓘ
timePeriod mid-20th century ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (2)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Going to Meet the Man → containsWork → Sonny's Blues ⓘ
Going to Meet the Man → notableStory → Sonny's Blues ⓘ