Coping With Sonny's Troubles

I find "Sonny's Blues" to be a depressing story. It is truly sad to read about a great musician that lives his life as a drug addict. I've seen this many a time in my life. Playing in bars and nightclubs bring a certain kind of life style. It doesn't help Sonny with his addiction living in the neighborhood that he lived in either. Sonny's brother couldn't say or do anything to get Sonny to change his life. There was only a few ways that Sonny could deal with his emotional pain, playing music and heroin.

Sonny's family loved him very much. His brother tried to get him back in school and even let him live with his wife, Isabel after he came to realize many things. Sonny's suffering was a bit too much for him, though. From my experiences with situations like this, there is not much you can do to convince your loved one there's a better road to follow. I feel the most important thing to Sonny was playing the music. Besides the issues of living in Harlem and dealing with the pressure of that time, the lifestyle of a musician could have been his initial down fall. Playing music and getting high was a way to escape the pain he was baring.

When a person like Sonny's brother sees his brother destroying his life as Sonny was, it can take a toll. So much, that Sonny's brother did not even want to bother with Sonny's troubles in the beginning. Also, the mother had a talk with Sonny's brother to try to get him to understand that he must help his brother. I feel that even the talk with the mother did not convince Sonny's brother to help him directly. He only started to feel sympathy for Sonny when he looked around himself and the neighborhood and realized that Sonny was crying out for help. After Sonny was busted for heroin, he did exactly that in the letter that he wrote his brother. When Sonny was released from jail and the two brothers came together they had much conversation. There were many ups and downs in the conversation because of the feelings that Sonny's brother felt for Sonny. In the end, there talk lead to Sonny asking his brother to come see him play his music.

I think Sonny ask his brother to come watch him play so Sonny's brother could see another side to him. When the two brothers walked in to the nightclub, I feel that Sonny's brother had a sense of disorientation. He had to take in all of the people that knew Sonny so well. Sonny's brother came to realize that Sonny was well thought of or even almost worshipped in the nightclub. Sonny's friends and he started to play and Sonny's brother saw the love that was shown by the applause that was given. Sonny's brother had stepped into Sonny's life by enter this club. By doing that, Sonny's brother saw another part of him. I feel that he saw maturity in Sonny and Sonny's brother also got see his brother do something amazing.

To me, this story shows that you have to look around at everything when dealing with a loved one that is like Sonny. When dealing with a drug addict sometimes you have to step into there world like Sonny's brother did. It's hard to want to help when a person sees someone they love so much destroying there life. Sometimes though, it's not as bad as it seems. I think that it's possible that Sonny's brother thought there was no hope for Sonny until he took the time to watch Sonny do something he loved. I feel that Sonny's brother gained a new love for Sonny in the end.