A Brother's Love
A Brother’s Love
When you compare Louis Erdrich’s story “The Red Convertible” and James Baldwin’s story “Sonny’s Blues”, they seem like completely different stories. “The Red Convertible” is about two brothers, Lyman and Henry, who grow up on a Native American reservation in North Dakota. The two brothers share a strong bond that is personified through their love for a certain red car that they share. They go through an amazing journey and discover a lot about each other. On the other hand, “Sonny’s Blues” is also about two brothers, however their journey goes a completely different route than Lyman and Henry’s. In “Sonny’s Blues”, the narrator and his little brother, Sonny, start out as distant and forgotten family members. Through Sonny’s love for music, and his older brother’s gradual acceptance, the two grow a stronger bond than ever before. Although the two are indeed about different topics, there are some parallels to recognize as well.
“The Red Convertible” and “Sonny’s Blues” are alike for many reasons, but the most prominent similarity is the theme of brotherhood. For instance, in “Sonny’s Blues”, the dynamic between the two brothers changes from being completely distant to finally understanding each other, despite their differences. The growth of a relationship is an important factor in true brotherhood. An example of the two brothers taking a step in the right direction is when they meet after Sonny is let out of prison. It has been a while since they have spoken last, and the older brother narrates, “Yet, when he smiled, when we shook hands, the baby brother I’d never known looked out from the depths of his private life, like an animal waiting to be coaxed into the light.” (Baldwin, 312) The other brother is realizing that he has never really known his baby brother because his true self was always buried beneath the mask of his drug addiction. We can see here that the other brother is seeing that Sonny is trying to let himself “into the light”, or
When you compare Louis Erdrich’s story “The Red Convertible” and James Baldwin’s story “Sonny’s Blues”, they seem like completely different stories. “The Red Convertible” is about two brothers, Lyman and Henry, who grow up on a Native American reservation in North Dakota. The two brothers share a strong bond that is personified through their love for a certain red car that they share. They go through an amazing journey and discover a lot about each other. On the other hand, “Sonny’s Blues” is also about two brothers, however their journey goes a completely different route than Lyman and Henry’s. In “Sonny’s Blues”, the narrator and his little brother, Sonny, start out as distant and forgotten family members. Through Sonny’s love for music, and his older brother’s gradual acceptance, the two grow a stronger bond than ever before. Although the two are indeed about different topics, there are some parallels to recognize as well.
“The Red Convertible” and “Sonny’s Blues” are alike for many reasons, but the most prominent similarity is the theme of brotherhood. For instance, in “Sonny’s Blues”, the dynamic between the two brothers changes from being completely distant to finally understanding each other, despite their differences. The growth of a relationship is an important factor in true brotherhood. An example of the two brothers taking a step in the right direction is when they meet after Sonny is let out of prison. It has been a while since they have spoken last, and the older brother narrates, “Yet, when he smiled, when we shook hands, the baby brother I’d never known looked out from the depths of his private life, like an animal waiting to be coaxed into the light.” (Baldwin, 312) The other brother is realizing that he has never really known his baby brother because his true self was always buried beneath the mask of his drug addiction. We can see here that the other brother is seeing that Sonny is trying to let himself “into the light”, or