Sonny s Blues By James Baldwin - 2300 Words

In the short story â€Å"Sonny’s Blues†, by James Baldwin there is the notion or a reoccurring theme of a conflict between light and dark between the characters. The notion is carried throughout the story of two brothers finding their own lights and trying to work towards a greater life. In the late 50’s, after the Harlem Renaissance, adolescents are faced with drug sales everywhere and crime sprees around every corner, this is one example of the darkness in the story. Kids began to form bad habits that revolved around drugs and crime because it was what they became used to seeing in their everyday routine. Later on in life they would find themselves in unthinkable situations and not finding a way out. Sonny’s older brother, who is also the narrator of the story finds himself in disbelief because he finds out his brother is incarcerated because of a heroin addiction. Sonny wanted to be a famous pianist but thought that heroin would open his mind up and mak e his creative thought flow. By using his music, Sonny tries to make a better life for himself and attempts to return to the light after being in the dark for so long. The notion of light and dark reflects the character’s personalities and actions as they struggle to live in the ominous city of Harlem. The author expresses the human spirit throughout â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† to reveal how the characters and ordinary people find their own light within the darkness in which they live. Baldwin had chosen specifically to use Harlem as theShow MoreRelatedSonny s Blues By James Baldwin827 Words   |  4 PagesSonny’s Blues In James Baldwin’s â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† it is only when a brother loses his child that he realizes how easy it can be to lose his brother. The narrator’s little brother, Sonny, was left in his charge when their parents passed away. He neglects Sonny and leaves him to work through hard decisions on his own which leads to Sonny being picked up by the police for using and selling drugs. When the narrator’s daughter, Grace, passes he sees how suffering can affect people and reaches outRead MoreSonny s Blues By James Baldwin1252 Words   |  6 PagesThe story â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† by James Baldwin centers on the conflicting relationship between two brothers that is explored throughout various stages of their lives. Through the structured, melodic style used by Baldwin there are reoccurring themes of suffering, family, and home that are used to further convey the idea of two brothers who love each other, but don’t understand eac h other. Ultimately, the relationship between the two brothers is greatly strained due them being polar opposites, their lackRead MoreJames Baldwin s Sonny s Blues956 Words   |  4 PagesJames Baldwin brings you on an emotional ride through Harlem in the 1950’s with his short story, â€Å"Sonny’s Blues.† From the beginning, we are in media res when the unnamed narrator is informed of bad news concerning his younger, troubled brother, Sonny. Throughout the story we witness the ocean of emotions between these two brothers battling hardships from their past, through flashbacks, and present time. The setting plays an important role in â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† to an extent where it is practically aRead MoreJames Baldwin s Sonny s Blues2994 Words   |  12 PagesINTRODUCTION Sonny, from James Baldwin’s â€Å"Sonny’s Blues,† is portrayed as a sufferer. He struggles with his stagnation in Harlem, his unfulfilled dreams and the disconnect between himself and his only family, his brother. However, not all hope is lost. He serves as a teacher for others, full of knowledge of how one can truly suffer and still triumph (Norton 47). Only when he is finally able to connect with his brother through music, are his â€Å"blues† finally heard and he affirms his individualityRead MoreSonny s Blues By James Baldwin1028 Words   |  5 Pagesand influence the subject’s ideas. Consciously and unconsciously, the individual reflects the confluence of his or her history and culture. In â€Å"Sonny’s Blues†, a short story by James Baldwin, the dominant culture constricts the black individual. Subject to the explicit and latent biases of a racist society, the black population of â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† attempt to en dure oppression and suffering and survive in an unforgiving land. However, they can thrive here with the hope and salvation provided by theRead MoreSonny s Blues By James Baldwin Essay1745 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"Sonny’s Blues† is a narration about two siblings – brothers - who choose very different routes in life in order to accomplish the zenith of individualism, expressionism and recognition. In doing so, they take a glimpse into one another’s spheres and learn to assent and appreciate each other for who they are. In 1951, Baldwin wrote Sonny’s Blues, a story of the ills that Harlem provided its youth. In Baldwin’s telling of the narration, it forms a nous of liberation, an atmosphere of therapeutic acceptanceRead MoreAnalysis Of James Baldwin s Sonny s Blues Essay1154 Words   |  5 Pagesntroduction: James Baldwin, author of Sonny s Blues, once said, I grew up with music...much more than with any other language. In a way, the mus ic I grew up with saved my life (Session 3 Inquiry: Rudolfo Anaya and James Baldwin, 2015).   Blues becomes Sonny s drug and his addiction to it his salvation.       Even though the adults refrain from lamenting their sufferings directly to the children and telling them about the darkness, the child-narrator still intimates its marks in their facesRead MoreAnalysis Of James Baldwin s Sonny s Blues 995 Words   |  4 PagesJames Baldwin presents an emotional journey through Harlem in the 1950’s with his short story, â€Å"Sonny’s Blues.† From the beginning, the story is in medias res when the unnamed narrator is informed of bad news concerning his younger, troubled brother, Sonny. Throughout the story there is an ocean of emotions witnessed between these two brothers as they battle hardships from their past and present time. The setting plays an important role in â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† to an extent where it is practically a characterRead MoreAnalysis Of James Baldwin s Sonny s Blues Essay2104 Words   |  9 PagesSeveral dialectics are at play in James Baldwin’s short story â€Å"Sonnyâ€℠¢s Blues† including a dialectic between the narrator and his beloved brother Sonny involving their opposing responses to the sense of oppression and limitation that arises from living in Harlem. This dialectic and its resolution closely parallel Baldwin’s masterful use of Blues, Jazz, and Gospel music. We follow the narrator and his brother Sonny as they traverse the complexities of their individual and interconnected Harlem livesRead MoreAnalysis Of `` Sonny s Blue `` By James Baldwin1474 Words   |  6 Pages Music can be the lead to freedom from darkness. The story â€Å"Sonny’s Blue† by James Baldwin takes places in Harlem around the 1950’s. The story is about two brothers. One of the brothers is the narrator of the story whose name is unknown. The narrator tells the story of the struggles in Harlem but mainly the struggles of his brother with drugs, and his passion for jazz music. Through out the story the narrator avoids giving a sense of his own struggles with himself. However, in the end the reader

A Woman s Prison By Henrik Ibsen Essay - 1410 Words

A Woman’s Prison Ibsen’s pla y, A Doll’s House immediately encountered a spectrum of reactions--ranging from strong support to harsh criticism--following its premier in 1879. Controversy came about over Nora’s role as an independent woman who makes her own decisions. The public’s immediate response to Ibsen’s play reflects the shift occurring within society, centered on gender roles and women’s place in the mid to late 19th century. Ibsen’s portrayal of women through Nora’s role explores the ideas of equality within marriage as well as women’s individualism and their role within society. Nora’s character acts as a catalyst for Ibsen to portray women’s standing as compared to their male counterparts in different areas of society--the home, marriage, workplace and in public business. Through Ibsen’s characterization of Nora, he explores these major themes of controversy and pivotal change during the 1920’s. While Ibsen carefully refrains from interjecting his own opinion, he successfully provides an accurate depiction of the power divide in the household--during the mid to late 19th century--through his portrayal of Nora. Today’s marriages, known as a partnership between equals was once not regarded as equal at all. During the 1920’s women held a rank below their husbands. Essentially, women were a pawn, leaving the ownership of their father to be handed off to their husband. Nora explains the situation best stating: â€Å"I was simply transferred from Papa’s hands to yours. YouShow MoreRelatedThe Importance Of Being A Doll s House1627 Words   |  7 PagesThe Importance of being a Doll. â€Å"She s only a bird in a gilded cage. A beautiful sight to see. You may think she is happy and free from care she’s not, though she seems to be†. (Lamb) The Importance of Being Earnest and A Dolls House have been subjects of controversy since their creation. How the plays characterize the parodies of society as a gilded cage are directly related to the writers and how they were treated in their real lives. From the standpoint of the importance of being earnest theRead More A Dolls House by Henrik Ibsen Essay842 Words   |  4 PagesA Dolls House by Henrik Ibsen â€Å"A dolls house† was written by Henrik Ibsen and produced by famous actors during the time of the 1800’s; in fact it was the year of 1879 to be precise. It was around this time that many different Social, cultural and historical moments were changing through time, leaving the end result to change not only one country but had an effect on most of the world. For this section of the work I will be carefully discussing with you the issues of; * Social events Read More Ibsen, Strindberg and Feminism Essay examples2824 Words   |  12 Pageswestern world. Scandinavia, as well as experiencing The Modern Breakthrough, was also dealing with its own political struggles for national identity. For Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg the early woman’s movement was to influence their writing greatly. Many associate both playwrights with playing key roles in the rise of feminism. However, were Ibsen and Strindberg attempting to write about the emancipation of women in the 19th century as a feminist issue? To explore this issue this essay will considerRead MoreNora – a Classical Hero in Henrik Ibsens a Doll`S House2683 Words   |  11 PagesNora – A Classical Hero in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll`s House Nora Helmer makes the right decision to free herself from the social and traditional commitments and obligations and come and become an independent individual. Nora Helmer in Isbens A Dolls House lived in the world of predetermined social and societal constraints that made her deprived her of her freedom and happiness. The society in which she lived wanted people to live according to the rigidly set norms and standards of the societyRead More Comparing A Dolls House and Oedipus Rex Essay1672 Words   |  7 PagesComparing A Dolls House and Oedipus Rex Ibsens drama A Dolls House, serves as an example of the kind of issue-based drama that distinguishes Ibsen from many of his contemporaries. The plays dialogue is not poetic, but very naturalistic, and the characters are recognizable people. Given the sense of modernity which the play possesses it seems unusual to compare it to a Greek tragedy produced more than two-thousand years previously. On closer examination however, thereRead MoreA Doll House by Henrik Ibsen7379 Words   |  30 PagesMa. Jennifer S. Yap Dr. Sherwin Perlas World Literature January 14, 2012 A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen Translated by Rolf Fjelde I. Introduction During the late nineteenth century, women were enslaved in their gender roles and certain restrictions were enforced on them by a male dominant culture. Every woman was raised believing that they had neither self-control nor self-government but that they must yield to the control of a stronger gender. John Stuart Mill wrote in his essay, â€Å"The SubjectionRead MoreThe Protesters And The Streets Of Downtown Los Angeles Essay2423 Words   |  10 Pagesthose arrests led to me being exiled and fleeing to the US. While living in the US I encountered the same troubles with the American government. I was caught and sentenced to jail many times for my writings and campaigns. After spending two years in prison in Washington State, he was released I settled in with my brother Enrique in Edendale, just north of the Silver Lake Reservoir. I was again arrested in 1916, for being accused of sending indecent materials through the U.S. Mail. Describe the major

Sony Strength Free Essays

One of Sony’s greatest strengths is their ability to produce innovative, quality products.Sony’s web page states â€Å"Sony innovations have become part of mainstream culture, including: the first magnetic tape and tape recorder in 1950; the transistor radio in 1955; the world’s first all-transistor TV set in 1960; the world’s first color video cassette recorder in 1971; the Walkman personal stereo in 1979; the Compact Disc (CD) in 1982; the first 8mm camcorder in 1985; the Minidisk (MD) player in 1992; the PlayStation game system in 1995; Digital Mavica camera in 1997; Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) player in 1998; and the Network Walkman digital music player in 1999† (Sony. om/en/corporate). We will write a custom essay sample on Sony Strength or any similar topic only for you Order Now PC World published The 20 Most Innovative Products for the Year 2006. Sony’s Reader was listed as number six and Sony’s PlayStation was listed as number sixteen. Sony Corporation has managed to be competitive and stay a powerful organization by learning from past failures. Sony states the following: â€Å"Sony has learnt much from previous unsuccessful products. The Sony MSX home computer, for example, did not attain a satisfactory level of success.But it did teach Sony development engineers valuable know-how that would be applied in later years. In effect, these engineers became living resources, representing latent power within Sony that did not exist in other AV companies† (Sony. net). Another strength of Sony is their ability to be successful in several different markets. They have made an impact in the video game market, the PC market, and especially the television market and there are still numerous others. How to cite Sony Strength, Papers

Transformational Leadership free essay sample

Transformational leadership encourages staff empowerment (Roussel Swansburg, 2009). It is thought that if staff feels empowered then they will work harder by collaborating with each other instead of competing, which will produce efficiency in the organization and it will be contagious to others (Roussel Swansburg, 2009). Transformational leadership allows everyone to be involved in the decision making this helps everyone feel like they are part of the team (Roussel Swansburg, 2009). Transformational leaders are ready to adapt to any situation that is presented to them good or bad (Roussel Swansburg, 2009). Transformational leadership has four components. The four components are management of attention, management of meaning, management of trust and management of self (Roussel Swansburg, 2009). Management of attention relates to having goals. Management of meaning relates to being a role model to others by encouraging commitment. Management of trust relates to staff knowing that they can always trust that person to do what is right. The last component is management of self, which is when the leader knows their strengths and skills and uses them (Roussel Swansburg, 2009). Literature Review Literature Review #1 A comprehensive literature review was conducted on transformational leadership styles. According to Thyer (2003), transformational leadership may help reduce the nursing shortage (Thyer, 2003). Nurses who are being managed under a transactional style do not want to stay in the profession according to Thyer (2003). Nurses want to be involved with the decision aking on their units because this is what they are used to when providing patient care (Thyer, 2003). According to Thyer (2003), transformational leadership encourages communication and encourages an overall long term change because staff feels empowered by being part of the decision making process (Thyer, 2003). Transformational leadership allows the organization to become more flat allowing for shared governance amongst nurses (Thyer, 2003). Autonomy is expected. It improves accountability because nurses are not just being told what to do they are expected to be accountable and responsible (Thyer, 2003). According to Thyer (2003) if nurses are employed in a transformational leadership environment, it will increase their satisfaction and they will want to stay (Thyer, 2003). Literature Review #2 In Newton (2010), it discussed the importance of transformational leadership and its retention of nurses. Retention of nurses remains a huge problem to most nurse administrators globally (Newton, 2010). Increasing nurse satisfaction remains a priority according to Newton (2010). Rehiring of nurses who leave to dissatisfaction in the work place is costly. It can cost facilities almost two times the amount of one nurse’s salary (Newton, 2010). In addition when nurses are not satisfied it increases sick calls which are also costly that can lead to overtime expenses (Newton, 2010). Transformational leadership can provide an environment that nurses want to work in (Newton, 2010). This leadership encourages nurses to work to their highest potential, which then promotes the whole team to do the same (Newton, 2010). It has been shown according to Newton (2010) that nurse retention is directly correlated with a managers leadership style (Newton, 2010). Transformational leadership builds confidence amongst the team (Newton, 2010). Literature Review #3 According to Gardner (2010), transformational leadership consists of four styles, which can help improve nurse retention. The styles are individualized consideration, intellectual stimulation, inspirational motivation, and idealized influence (Gardner, 2010). Individualized consideration is when the leader considers each individual and gives them 100% of their attention. They listen to their ideas and validate their opinion. They recognize the individual’s strengths and weaknesses (Gardner, 2010). Intellectual stimulation is a leader who encourages their staff to identify conflicts and come up with solutions to solve the problem. These leaders push their staff to think outside of the box and bring their ideas to the table (Gardner, 2010). Inspirational motivation leaders give their staff inspiration to motivate them to work to their full potential. They encourage them to help the organization grow and advance into the future (Gardner, 2010). Idealized influence leaders are there to be the role model of the team. They have characteristics that are very distinct characteristics (Gardner, 2010). They are positive and confident (Gardner, 2010). In Gardner (2010), the study they conducted shows that nurses will stay if they feel they have a good manager. Their study showed that nurses who worked for transformational leaders have an increased level of job satisfaction (Gardner, 2010). Nursing Administration Issue A known issue that has been in nursing for a long time is nurse retention. Nurse retention is a problem across the United States (Roussel Swansburg, 2009). It is costly to recruit nurses and is far less expensive to keep them (Roussel Swansburg, 2009). Retaining nurses is not only less expensive but improves quality of patient care (Roussel Swansburg, 2009). According to Roussel Swansburg (2009), nurses leave because of organizational cultures not because of wages. Nurse retention is directly correlated with transformational leadership styles (Roussel Swansburg, 2009). Rational For Effective Leadership Style According to the literature, reviews that I have conducted and discussed transformational leadership styles can help retain nurses (Gardner, 2010). By using transformational leadership techniques, nurses will feel empowered and want to stay (Thyer, 2003). Nurses want to feel like they are valued. Transformational leadership styles accomplish this (Roussel Swansburg, 2009). Transformational leaders influence nurses to be part of the team within the organization, which in return promotes nurses to make positive changes for the future of the organization. It allows them to feel like they are making a difference. They will want to go to work every day because they will feel that their opinions are being validated (Thyer, 2003). Other styles of leadership have not been as successful as transformational leadership (Gardner, 2010). In conclusion, transformational leadership styles appear to be superior to various other leadership tactics. Transformational leadership will solve a multitude of issues in the workplace. It is the only type of leadership that really empowers the individual to work to its maximum potential. I would agree that this would be the answer to solving nurse retention. Hopefully as more information about this style comes out managers and administrators will encourage this style of leadership. In the end, it will save the facilities money, as it will promote nurse retention.