Comparing and Contrasting “Sonny’s Blues” and “Barn Burning”
As you read “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin and “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner you will notice some similarities and differences. There are 2 similarities in the literary elements which are the theme of being loyal to their families and the epiphany. The only difference between these two stories was the symbolism.
The story of “Sonny’s Blue” by James Baldwin is about two brothers with different lives. The older brother was a teacher, and Sonny was put in jail for using and selling drugs. Sometime later, and due to the death of the older brother’s daughter, he gets back in touch. When leaving prison Sonny goes to live in the house of the family of the wife of the older brother. After some fights, Sonny enlists in the army and goes to war. At the end of the war, Sonny returns and meets his brother, but they fight again.
“Barn Burning” by William Faulkner is about a boy named Sartoris whose father is obsessed with fire. Sartoris must go and lie in front of a judge to save his father. At the end of the trial the judge tells them to leave the country. Once they did, they started new by cleaning an expensive carpet from the Spain’s. Sartoris father gets mad and decides to go burn the Spain’s barn. Sartoris runs to the Spain’s house but could only say the barn. He was almost running over by the major’s horse. Lastly, he heard gun shots. He stood up and walked away.
Theme
The theme for both stories they express the values of family loyalty and overcoming obstacles. In the beginning of “Sonny’s Blues” we learn that sonny's brother had to trust Sonny’s values. As the progresses we learn how Sonny’s brother is not a big fan of Sonny’s values but at the end learns to like them. “I understood, at last that he could help us to be free if we would listen, that he would never be free until we did.” (page 69,Sonny’s Blues, Literature An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing). Whereas “Barn Burning” Sartoris is in between of being loyal to his family or himself. In the story Sartoris dads tells him that if he has to learn to respect his family or else they wont have his back when he needs it. “ You got to learn to stick to your own blood or you ain’t going to have any blood to stick to you” ( Page 165, Barn Burning, Literature An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing)
Epiphany
The epiphany of both of these story would be how Put an end to the life of the inner battle between family. Meaning that in the stories both characters put aside the small they had with their family problems. In “ Sonny’s Blues” , Sonny’s epiphany happens in the end when he reconciles with his brother . “I realize, with this mocking look, that there stood between us, forever, beyond the power of time and forgiveness” (Page 65, Sonny’s Blues, Literature An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing) . Whereas in “Barn Burning” Sartoris fights the boy who called his father names as they left the court house to prove himself to his father. “Feeling no blow, feeling no shock when his head struck the earth…scrambling up to see the other boy in full flight” ( Page 164, Barn Burning, Literature An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing)
Symbolism
In the symbolism the only difference was that in “ Sonny’s Blues” they keep bringing up drug mainly heroin . Heroin was the drug that Sonny was addicted to “Her voice reminds me for a minute of what heroin feels like sometimes when its in your veins. It makes you feel sort of warm and cool at the same time” (Page 64,Sonny’s Blues, Literature An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing). In “Barn Burning” they had fire for symbolism. Sartoris like to play with fire a lot since he kept burning barns. “Go to the barn and get that oil… and handed the can to his father” ( Page 171, Barn Burning ,Literature An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing)
Conclusion
Despite being two completely different stories they both can things in common as well some differences. Both Sonny and Sartoris have struggled to fit in with the family. They both tried to prove that they wanted to change and run away from their problems.
Work Cited
Kennedy, X.J., and Dana Gioia. Literature: an Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Pearson, 2016.