Processing "Sonny's Blues"

I very much like Baldwin's short story "Sonny's Blues. In part that is likely because I had never read anything by Baldwin before taking this class.I had previously read the other assignments for one reason or another over the years but this was new to me and so it was interesting even before opening the book. I did already know about Baldwin and for some reason had written him off as angry guy with a chip on his shoulder. There is plenty of work by angry people around so I hadn't felt the urge to make the time to read more propagandistic rants by yet another person who felt them selves to have been put upon.
But Sonny's Blues isn't like that. It is a superb description of what actually making art is really like. I didn't think that could be done. Ask any musician, visual artist, or writer you know what they think of the last page or two of this story and I bet they will tell you that it's right.

Submitted by Martha Oldham