“Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin and “A Clean Well-Lighted Place” by Ernest Hemingway are both linked together, not quite by the message they both carry, but how each protagonist character display their obstacles throughout each short story. The protagonist in “Sonny’s Blues” and in “A Clean Well-Lighted Place” each face struggles in their lives, which in some circumstances is the basis of each story. Although these stories did not give the direct point of view of each protagonist; it is demonstrated more efficiently as the stories are told. Sonny in “Sonny’s Blues” and the Old man in “A Clean Well-Lighted Place” differ in the type of struggles they both face, however the conflict they face between themselves, society, and family members are quite similar. In “Sonny’s Blues,” Sonny faces a struggle with himself.
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Throughout the story Sonny is “unheard,” in a way that he is unable to speak his mind. When Sonny moves in with his elder brother, who is married, he begins to play the piano consistently. The music begins to bother Isabel, the narrator’s wife, and that’s when it hits the narrator that “they certainly couldn’t throw him out. Neither did they dare to make a great scene about that piano because even they dimly sensed, as I sensed, from so many thousands of miles away, that Sonny was at the piano playing for his life”(). Sonny’s only way of communicating and finding himself was through the playing of the piano; through music. Sonny was going through depression which did not allow him to be able to express himself. He was in complete silent and fought this battle with himself. His only escape was through music. Similarly to Sonny’s situation, the Old man in “A Clean Well-Lighted Place” faces a conflict with himself as well. In this short story an old and young waiter begin to chatter about the Old man sitting in the café. They begin to talk about how the Old man tried to commit suicide. The young and old waiters begin to go into depth about the incident, “What did he want to kill himself for?” Then the older waiter replies with, “How should I know.” The young waiter continues with, “How did he do it?” The older waiter exceeds with, “He hung himself with a rope.” “Who cut him down?” replied the young waiter. The old waiter answers, “His niece.” “Why did they do it?” continues the young waiter and the older waiter replies with, “Fear for his soul.”(1). This all demonstrates that the Old man felt no reason to continue living. His battle for himself and his past life was eating him alive. The older waiter exceeds that the Old man tried to kill himself because of the “fear of his soul”, which seems to be because the Old man wanted to somehow escape the reality of the world. The challenge with himself made him seem as if there was nothing left for him on earth. In addition to their inner struggles, the Old man and Sonny begin to be less understood by society. The actions that Sonny and the Old man demonstrate are way out of normal range compared to what society wants them to do. For instance, Sonny comes from poverty in Harlem and the normal thing to do was that young teenagers were to drop out of school, join gangs, and do
Throughout the story Sonny is “unheard,” in a way that he is unable to speak his mind. When Sonny moves in with his elder brother, who is married, he begins to play the piano consistently. The music begins to bother Isabel, the narrator’s wife, and that’s when it hits the narrator that “they certainly couldn’t throw him out. Neither did they dare to make a great scene about that piano because even they dimly sensed, as I sensed, from so many thousands of miles away, that Sonny was at the piano playing for his life”(). Sonny’s only way of communicating and finding himself was through the playing of the piano; through music. Sonny was going through depression which did not allow him to be able to express himself. He was in complete silent and fought this battle with himself. His only escape was through music. Similarly to Sonny’s situation, the Old man in “A Clean Well-Lighted Place” faces a conflict with himself as well. In this short story an old and young waiter begin to chatter about the Old man sitting in the café. They begin to talk about how the Old man tried to commit suicide. The young and old waiters begin to go into depth about the incident, “What did he want to kill himself for?” Then the older waiter replies with, “How should I know.” The young waiter continues with, “How did he do it?” The older waiter exceeds with, “He hung himself with a rope.” “Who cut him down?” replied the young waiter. The old waiter answers, “His niece.” “Why did they do it?” continues the young waiter and the older waiter replies with, “Fear for his soul.”(1). This all demonstrates that the Old man felt no reason to continue living. His battle for himself and his past life was eating him alive. The older waiter exceeds that the Old man tried to kill himself because of the “fear of his soul”, which seems to be because the Old man wanted to somehow escape the reality of the world. The challenge with himself made him seem as if there was nothing left for him on earth. In addition to their inner struggles, the Old man and Sonny begin to be less understood by society. The actions that Sonny and the Old man demonstrate are way out of normal range compared to what society wants them to do. For instance, Sonny comes from poverty in Harlem and the normal thing to do was that young teenagers were to drop out of school, join gangs, and do