RR, Sonny's Blues (loved it)

1. Francis "had not developed his memory as a sentimental faculty." Why is memory important in this story? What kinds of memories do people try to ignore and what kinds of memories actually do surface in the story?

The narrator of Sonny's Blues is telling the readers about the environment he was raised in and how it affected his family. The story is developed in Harlem, NY. The time frame seems to be from the 1940's to the early 1960's. This story starts when Sonny's brother is shocked to learn about Sonny's imprisonment, which brings many memories about their life growing up and all the factors that contributed to Sonny's "failure" as a member of society. Most of these memories to some readers could seem in some way negative but in my opinion these are merely a reflection of what poverty and violence have to offer to their victims. Most of the story revolves around Sonny and the high chances of him getting involved with drugs and problems of all sort because of the neighborhood he lives in. First, His mom tries make his big brother aware of the problems that may arise and she also makes a very convincing case about brotherhood by bringing up the story of his uncle's death and how his father suffered because of this. In this way she places a big responsibility on Sonny's brother's shoulders to look out for him. Despite Sonny's inclination for music, time passes and his mother's warnings become a hard reality which keeps Sonny's brother in constant state of concern, but there is just so much that he can do. As a justification to himself, he brings up that there is a constant conflict going on between them and because of that they didn't speak for a long time. After the death of his 2 year old daughter, he started looking to make up with his brother. In the end these brothers finally reach a good middle ground, Sonny was finally being open and honest about his shady life, and his brother finally opened his mind to Sonny's big world. In the narrator's last paragraph, I, as a reader, can see his change from pity and contempt towards his baby brother to admiration and respect for his effort and talent.