Thesis on "Freedom in Music in "Sonny's Blues"
Thesis 3 pages (1124 words) Sources: 3
[EXCERPT] . . . .
Freedom in Music in "Sonny's Blues""Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin is more than a tale of two brothers, it is a tale of the healing powers of music. The two brothers live different lives with Sonny's brother constantly looking down on Sonny and expressing disgust for his lifestyle. His brother believed he took the moral high ground while Sonny lingered behind in the dark shadows of the city. Sonny, however, learns to live and love music, which gives him a freedom that his brother can only see from a distance. It is not until he experiences him play that begins to understand the importance of music as a tool and escape from life. His experience enlightens him as he undergoes an interpersonal transformation watching Sonny transform before his eyes.
That these brothers come to a moment of interpersonal transformation is amazing because they are so different from one another. Sonny is portrayed as a dreamer and a loser. His brother, on the other hand, believes his life is more fulfilling since he integrate into the white man's world and made a decent living for himself. Sonny suffers because he chose not to take that path in life. He avoided school and fell into drugs. Hicks writes, "Rather than fulfilling himself by assimilating into the mainstream culture and following the American Dream, he chose to immerse himself in the blues world and become a heroin addict" (Hicks). This is significant because it demonstrates that Sonny is responsible for his own decisions. There is probably no one that believes this more than his brother and this gives him reason to look down on Sonny and think the worst of him. He has reason to think he can express or experience something beautiful --
download full paper ⤓
Sonny's life is nothing to which anyone should aspire. He has no real future and he lives in utter hopelessness and helplessness. However, in this dark and shadowed life, Sonny has something his brother does not have. This indescribable thing is powerful and addicting like heroin and the best Sonny cannot even describe it sufficiently. His brother dismisses Sonny's talk about music as he does most of everything else Sonny says or does. This changes when he hears Sonny play. When he experiences the music with Sonny, the things Sonny tried to express to him about music begin to make sense. The brother begins to understand music and he also begins to understand his brother. The freedom Sonny experiences when he is playing is something his brother can relate to after hearing him perform. Music is the bridge between the bothers. John Reilly concurs, nothing this is why music is essential for Sonny's relationship with his brother. The "unique quality of the Blues is its combination of personal and social significance is a lyric encounter with history" (Reilly 56), Music "repairs the relationship between the two men who… READ MORE
Quoted Instructions for "Freedom in Music in "Sonny's Blues" Assignment:
“Hello. I*****'ve been assigned to write a Thesis Proposal that will lead into an actual Research (Thesis) Paper. My professor says the proposal is essentially the beginning of a thesis paper, so I figured I would order the whole paper and just edit out the last couple pages to first turn in an actual proposal. What I need for now is the full paper that begins with the thesis paragraph and then continues to build on the claim and show support and evidence for it. The story I*****'ve been assigned is James Baldwin*****'s *****"Sonny*****'s Blues.*****" Any thesis you feel that can be supported by strong evidence can be used, but for example I came up with *****"Throughout the course of *****Sonny*****s Blues,***** both Sonny and the narrator become enlightened and undergo an interpersonal transformation.*****" and he did say something like that would be fine. Feel free to come up with any claim you feel would be better though. The professor strongly encourages atleast one peer-reviewed artice to be used as supporting research so I do need a PRed one, but the other two can be of any other kind. The title of the paper needs to be *****"a combination of creative/informational.*****" He*****'s given us a table to go by (though I*****'m sure it*****'s no surprise to you) that is Claim: Argument, Thesis - Citation: Support, Evidence, Quote - Analysis: Reasoning, Logic. Please be sure to include quotes from the story and research findings as well as examples to show evidence of the claim. The professor says that usually the actual thesis statement is given at the end of the first paragraph, so I suppose what*****'s before it is more or less an introduction into it. He did say something about if possible using topic sentences to to start some of the review of research paragraphs. The paper will be graded in 5 sections: Discussion/Argument, Review of research, Citation, Work Cited, and Sentence/Paragraph form. I did find one Peer-Reviewed artice that may be useful that*****'s called *****"Learning to listen to *****'Sonny*****'s Blues*****" by Duncan Charles. Thank you very much. *****
How to Reference "Freedom in Music in "Sonny's Blues" Thesis in a Bibliography
“Freedom in Music in "Sonny's Blues.” A1-TermPaper.com, 2011, https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/freedom-music-sonny/6230290. Accessed 28 Sep 2024.
Related Thesis Papers:
Connection Between Music and Politics Essay
Music and Politics -- the Connections
Music has been used to promote particular political and ideological messages for many years. In the 20th century and well before, there are myriad… read more
Essay 5 pages (1635 words) Sources: 5 Topic: Music / Musicians / Instruments
Music Appreciation Essay
Music Appreciation
Describe the characteristics of the twentieth-century concept of melody. Refer to at least one listening example in your response. (Textbook p.301-302, 309-310)
Melody only seems to have taken… read more
Essay 15 pages (4564 words) Sources: 0 Topic: Music / Musicians / Instruments
Music and the Counterculture Thesis
Music and the Counterculture
Music has long been an expression of the society within which the particular kind or genre of music originated in. There is a distinct musical expression… read more
Thesis 12 pages (4510 words) Sources: 10 Topic: Music / Musicians / Instruments
Freedom Is Not Following Tradition Thesis
Freedom
Today, the concept of freedom is a very important one. On both a personal and collective level, freedom is considered one of the fundamental human rights. It is therefore… read more
Thesis 5 pages (1734 words) Sources: 5 Topic: Music / Musicians / Instruments
Music the Evolution Musical Notation -- Classical Essay
Music
The Evolution Musical Notation -- Classical vs. Jazz Styles
Musical notation is one way that musical compositions can be passed from one generation of performers to the next generation… read more
Essay 3 pages (1150 words) Sources: 1+ Topic: Music / Musicians / Instruments
Sat, Sep 28, 2024
If you don't see the paper you need, we will write it for you!
We can write a new, 100% unique paper!