February 25, 2014 Sonny’s Blues The short story “Sonny’s Blues” by writer James Baldwin has a very direct link to a poem by Langston Hughes entitled “The Weary Blues”. The two stories feature a negro man expressing emotions, that would otherwise to be hard to verbally express, through the “Blues”. The Blues are a musical genre and form of music that was originated in Southern United States in the 19th century by African Americans. Through the Blues both men sang to their audience from their soul what their mouths couldn’t say in conversation. This genre of music became very popular in local bars.
One of these elements of poetry is very apparent while reading some of these poems and that is element is metaphor. Metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two things that don’t have anything in common in a way that gives it commonality. Many poems throughout the book uses metaphors to help compare complex issues by tying it to an object or something that is very familiar to most people so that the once complex issue can now be understood by most. A poem that stands out a lot through the use of a metaphor is Niggerlips written by Martin Espada. The poem itself is talking about racism and how throughout generations racism has been felt in some way or form.
It is at this point, the narrator finally lets go and deals with his own sadness. Certain events in the narrator's life such as the deaths of his uncle, father, and mother have turned the narrator into an unfeeling man who can not forgive his brother Sonny for falling into a life of heroine addiction. Throughout the story the narrator is angered by the the choices his brother makes such as not attending school, drug use, hanging out in nightclubs, and eventually his arrest. The narrator's anger is expressed in one scene where he goes to his brothers apartment and tells Sonny “that he might as well be dead as live the way he was living”(Baldwin, 2007). It is not until the narrator's death of his own daughter Gracie does he try to reconcile with his brother Sonny through a letter to the prison.
Literature and Communities Literature reflects all communities and individual in a society. Many writers use their art of words to illustrate the culture and belief around them. The setting of cultural belief and the context is make up of many things that play a major part in the author choose how literature reflects on different communities such as: their culture, individually and society. The languages from literature help explain how it feels to live in a different community. It also tells what the characters feel about certain situation throughout the story or poem.
John Coltrane’s ‘Blue Train’ Even if one is not a fan of Jazz or know anything about the music its self they know the name John Coltrane or simply ‘Trane’. He is not just a Jazz legend but a legend among all music styling. Coltrane was born in 1926 in North Carolina into a musical background. His dad played many instruments and taught Coltrane to play very young. He continued to play as his father had taught him until high school when Lester Young and Johnny Hodges inspired him to switch to tenor saxophone.
1 Language Paper Sundra D. Daniels Psy 360 June 13, 2011 Yelena Gidenko 2 Language Paper When an individual understand language they believe on the meaning of diverse language like: French, Spanish, and English. It is not exactly known as to how frequent the concrete meaning of language is thought of. In the specific aspect of language, it has a complicated terminology and interpretation. Language has often been said that it is the defining quality of human understanding (Roitblat, 2007). Language is an important party all human beings life and can be examined by definition of a small group of words known as lexicons.
Influential text with strong supporting evidence can cause its reader to believe it strongly. Readers relate the text to their own personal conditions and sometimes make up false impression about their life. Generally a mass of the readers are interested in reading what relates to them. Frederick Douglass was one amongst the masses. Douglass in his essay states how he got hold of a book and read it whenever he got a chance.
He was very busy during and after the show but some how he did manage to spare some of his time to us. During the discussion we learned that he was born in New Jersey but he moved to NYC where he get some time to spend in Harlem and Brooklyn. His some of Jazz musician idol were Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Max Roach, Dizzy Gillespie and John Coltrane. Randy Moore was such a great musician and it was surprise to know that he didn’t come from a musical family. Actually his love for music came to him when his brother brought home an Art Blakey record.
This band consisted of Saxes, Trumpets, Trombones, Piano, Bass, Guitar and Drums. Like the Calypso Band the concert was a great one. The playlist included, that old Black Magic, Salt Peanuts, down for the Count, Jungle Gym, Badger Blues and Christmas song O Tannenbaum and O Come All Ye Faithful. The Jazz concert for me was more of a personal stroll down memory lane for me. I was first introduced to Jazz by my father who only listens to Jazz.
At times a story can make you smile with the character, and other times make you cry with them. Stories, poems and literature allow the reader to identify with the characters and their conflicts and