The Changes In The Narratot free essay sample

# 8217 ; s View Of Sonny Essay, Research Paper The Changes in the Narrator # 8217 ; s View of Sonny Can one cognize another # 8217 ; s ideas? Through duologue, actions, and events, the ideas and positions of a adult male of whom we know non even a name are shown. The adult male is the storyteller of # 8220 ; Sonny # 8217 ; s Blues # 8221 ; and his ideas we are shown are those directed towards his brother. Over the class of the narrative, there are three major phases or stages that the storyteller goes through, in which his ideas about his brother alteration. We see that those phases of idea vary greatly over the storyteller # 8217 ; s life, from confusion about his brother to understanding. Each stage brings different positions of his ain duty toward his brother, his brother # 8217 ; s manhood, and his brother # 8217 ; s sense of world. Through out the narrative, three of the storyteller # 8217 ; s position are changed, the first of which is Sonny # 8217 ; s manhood. During the first stage, early in the narrative, the storyteller showed that he viewed Sonny as a kid. # 8220 ; I was get downing to recognize that I # 8217 ; d neer seen him so disquieted before # 8230 ; [ and decided this was ] one of those things childs go through and that I shouldn # 8217 ; Ts make it look important. # 8221 ; ( 49 ) This quotation mark is an illustration of how the storyteller viewed his brother. He non merely thought Sonny acted as a child, but was besides excessively immature to be be aftering a hereafter or calling. # 8220 ; He still wasn # 8217 ; t a adult male yet, he was still a kid, and they had to watch out for him in all sorts of ways. # 8221 ; ( 51 ) The storyteller decided that he would be after Sonny # 8217 ; s hereafter and when Sonny rebelled, the storyteller saw it as yet another infantile action. Another manner in which the storyteller # 8217 ; s overall position changed was his position on whether Sonny # 8217 ; s thought of world was sound. Still in the first stage, the storyteller frequently presents his position of world and when Sonny culls it, the storyteller feels Sonny is being unreasonable. For case, # 8220 ; # 8216 ; Well Sonny, # 8217 ; I said, gently, # 8220 ; you know people can # 8217 ; T ever do precisely what they want to do- # 8217 ; # 8216 ; No I don # 8217 ; t think that, # 8217 ; said Sonny, surprising me. # 8221 ; ( 49 ) Actually, Sonny understood life much more clearly than the storyteller, but the storyteller did non recognize that so. He thought that possibly Sonny was merely excessively immature or excessively high on drugs to understand what life was approximately. Finally, the 3rd position changed was the storyteller # 8217 ; s duty towards Sonny. Before the brothers # 8217 ; mother died, the storyteller promised he would take it upon himself to take attention of Sonny should the female parent dice. The storyteller viewed Sonny as a duty he had. Because of the promise made to his female parent, he felt he owed it to his female parent to take attention of Sonny. Therefore, whenever he did something for Sonny it was because his female parent had wanted him to, non because he cared about Sonny. Equally shortly as taking attention of Sonny stopped working with his agenda, he sent him to his mother-in-law # 8217 ; s house. During the narrative, nevertheless, a long separation brought the storyteller into his 2nd phase of thought, and changed his positions of Sonny. The storyteller recognized that Sonny wasn # 8217 ; t merely a child any more. Sonny had been in the Navy and had been populating on his ain for some clip. Yet he didn # 8217 ; t see him as a adult male either. # 8220 ; He was a adult male by so, of class, but I wasn # 8217 ; t willing to see it. # 8221 ; ( 52 ) He saw Sonny as a adolescent of kinds. Sonny dressed queerly, became household with unusual friends, and listened to still alien music. # 8221 ; In the storyteller # 8217 ; s eyes, Sonny unwisely thought he knew everything. Even though the storyteller # 8217 ; s positions on Sonny # 8217 ; s manhood changed, during the 2nd phase his feelings about Sonny # 8217 ; s sense of world didn # 8217 ; t. When he saw Sonny after Sonny # 8217 ; s stay in the Navy, the storyteller still viewed Sonny as if he were on drugs. # 8220 ; He carried himself, free and dreamlike all the clip, # 8230 ; and his music seemed to be simply an alibi for the life he led. It sounded merely that Wyrd and disordered. # 8221 ; ( 52 ) He thought that Sonny had been driven even farther from world than earlier. He thought that Sonny # 8217 ; s position of world was so deformed that he might every bit good have been dead. Unlike his positions on Sonny # 8217 ; s saneness, when his positions on Sonny # 8217 ; s manhood changed so he thought, did his duty toward Sonny. He began contending on a regular basis with Sonny, # 8220 ; Then [ Sonny ] stood up and he told me non to worry about him any longer in life, that as he was dead every bit far as I was concerned. # 8221 ; ( 52 ) During this clip in which the storyteller thought Sonny was moving as a adolescent he forsook his promise all together. The storyteller did non pass on with his brother at all for some clip. During this clip of no communicating, he felt that he could make nil more and could non be held responsible for what happened to Sonny. As the narrative nears completion, a individual event brings the storyteller out of the 2nd stage and into his 3rd stage. It is in this concluding pahse that the storyteller obtains a true apprehension of Sonny. The decease of the storyteller # 8217 ; s daughter Grace was so annihilating to the storyteller that he said, # 8220 ; My problem made his existent # 8221 ; ( 53 ) . The storyteller eventually felt the hurting and desperation that had plagued his brother for so long. It was at that minute that the storyteller found himself understanding Sonny # 8217 ; s manhood. He was on the same degree as his brother, and he was eventually seeing his brother as he genuinely was. When the storyteller felt these feelings he saw that Sonny was merely a adult male that was steeped in desperation and merited regard. All of the storyteller # 8217 ; s positions did non alter at one time. He had already come to accept Sonny as a adult male before his positions of Sonny # 8217 ; s saneness changed. As he listened to Sonny # 8217 ; s emotional playing, he came to the realisation that Sonny had ever understood what life was approximately. He listened to the playing and recognized it as more than simply music. Through his adverting the cup of shaking, the cup that hold the choler of the Lord, he shows he understands what Sonny has been through. He eventually knew that Sonny # 8217 ; s vocals, Sonny # 8217 ; s blues weren # 8217 ; t Wyrd or disordered but were really a manner to freedom. Finally, during the 3rd stage, the storyteller eventually started caring about Sonny alternatively of attempt to attention for Sonny. He no longer saw him as merely something to be taken attention of, he eventually began to see him as a brother. He became sensitive to what offended Sonny and took cautiousness to avoid them. He was willing to be interested in what Sonny interested in. Finally, he was willing to sit and listen to Sonny alternatively of stating him how to run his life. All of these were drastic alterations from when their female parent had foremost died and improved the brothers # 8217 ; relationship. Through out the narrative it is as if the storyteller is falling a step good. Each phase that the storyteller goes through is another flight of stepss and each flight of steps he descends brings him closer to an apprehension of Sonny. The storyteller descended one flight and it changed his positions one manner, another flight and his positions changed once more. During the whole ordeal he can see Sonny, yet his positions of Sonny are distorted or blurred. After each phase he believes his new position is the right one, nevertheless it is non until he reaches the land that he gets a true thought of what Sonny is like. It is so that he brings himself down to Sonny # 8217 ; s degree and begins seeing Sonny as an equal.