Draft #1

The Gravity of a Mistreated Environment 

To state that society is unflawed and holds no imperfections is an obtuse statement. Authors throughout history have always made it a point to leave their own critiques and opinions on society’s flaws. James Baldwin, a well-respected author, had done so through his own short story. His critique of society can be supported through Sigmund Freud’s lectures of psychoanalysis.  James Baldwin’s critique of society, when viewed through Sigmund Freud’s concept of phantasies, is that young black children are destined to become victims of their environment; this is seen in his short story “Sonny’s Blues” through his character Sonny as his failed attempt to escape Harlem through his phantasies led to him escaping Harlem through drugs.

The discrimination of black Americans in 1940’s New York contrasts greatly with the discrimination of modern-day. The black community of New York in the 1940’s was vulnerable and defenseless, unlike the resilient and powerful community of the present. The powers at the time made sure to take advantage of such a susceptible community. In a journal article written by Carla J. DuBose-Simons, Simons writes:

Harlem’s blacks paid an inordinate amount of their income for rent because they could not move elsewhere in the borough due to discrimination. On average Harlem residents paid 60 percent of their earnings to rent apartments that landlords neglected to maintain. The high rents landlords charged coupled with the low wages blacks earned caused economic hardship for blacks in Harlem. (545-546) 

Simons emphasizes how due to discrimination, Harlem became the heart of the black community in New York, which the city’s leaders intended to exploit for their own personal benefit. Such exploitation would eventually lead to the neglect of the powerless citizens of Harlem. For instance, Simons also writes, “As overcrowding intensified and the already high rents rose, mortality rates worsened and the living conditions of Harlem’s residents declined further” (546). Simons further explains how the leaders of New York forced black citizens to reside in an unstable and cruel environment that was developed through their deliberate mistreatment of Harlem. The cities leaders ignored the pain and death of its own people, meaning it viewed the community of Harlem as unimportant. James Baldwin highlights the effects of living in such conditions in his short story “Sonny’s Blues”. 

Baldwin portrays the hardships a young black child in Harlem in the 1940’s must face to survive their environment. Due to the discrimination and prejudice against them, black children are forced to limit their potential. For example, in “Sonny’s Blues” the narrator states, “These boys, now, were living as we’d been living then, they were growing up with a rush and their heads bumped abruptly against the low ceiling of their actual possibilities. They were filled with rage” (Baldwin 1). Here, the boys are the black children of Harlem who must view themselves as lesser beings to face a reality that views them as insignificant perishable assets. This forced self-doubt angers the children greatly and urges them to fight against such an unjust system. For instance, the narrator observes, “Their laughter struck me for perhaps the first time. It was not the joyous laughter which – God knows why – one associates with children. It was mocking and insular, its intent was to denigrate” (Baldwin 1). This demonstrates how the children laugh in the face of society, mocking and cursing it; they are swearing that their environment would not consume them and take them to the dark place they were running from. To further escape this dark reality, young black children become emersed in their daydreams, or as Freud describes phantasies. 

            Phantasies, as defined by Freud, are an individual’s unconscious desires that take the place of their true reality. This desired reality provides young children of color the hope they will escape their harsh surroundings. Such a statement can be supported through Freuds fifth lecture on psychoanalysis as he states:

You will be taught that we humans, with the high standards of our civilization and under the pressure of our internal repressions, find reality unsatisfying quite generally, and for that reason entertain a life of phantasy in which we like to make up for the insufficiencies of reality by the production of wish-fulfilments. These phantasies include a great deal of the true constitutional essence of the subject’s personality as well as of those of his impulses which are repressed where reality is concerned. (2235) 

This explains how because these children face an undesirable reality that does not value them, they create their own reality, a phantasy, where they are valued and their desires are met. Young black children then begin to rely on these phantasies to avoid becoming another casualty of their environment, just as Baldwins character, Sonny, had attempted. Becoming reliant on phantasies to escape an unsatisfying environment, however, will lead black children back to the circumstances they were running from, identical to Sonny. 

            Sonny’s phantasy is that he will escape Harlem through the opportunities a music career would bring him. Initially, Sonny’s phantasy provided the motivation he needed to properly pursue his passion and develop a career. This is shown through the narrator’s conversation with Sonny as Sonny states, “‘I mean, I’ll have a lot of studying to do, and I’ll have to study everything, but, I mean, I want to play with – jazz musicians.’ He stopped. ‘I want to play jazz,’ he said. Well, the word had never before sounded as heavy, as real, as it sounded that afternoon in Sonny’s mouth” (Baldwin 10). At this moment, Sonny was filled with determination to make his phantasy a reality as he believed this was his opportunity to escape his destiny of becoming another poor man in Harlem. He would become so enveloped in this phantasy that he would begin to banish his true reality. This can be seen in a deeper discussion held between Sonny and the narrator as the narrator explains, “‘Well, Sonny,’ I said gently, ‘you know people can’t always do exactly what they want to do -’ ‘No, I don’t know that,’ said Sonny, surprising me. ‘I think people ought to do what they want to do, what else are they alive for?’” (Baldwin 10) Here, Sonny is so deeply entangled in his phantasy that he has become blind to the truth that he lives in a community that does not consider his existence relevant, therefore, his passions would be viewed in the same light. Though Sonny believed otherwise, his phantasy would slowly lead him to his demise. 

            As his phantasy pulled him further from his reality, Sonny’s environment kept its firm grip around his future. When his phantasy had been abruptly interrupted by the harshness of his real-world issues, Sonny could not handle such a devastating truth. For instance, as the narrator describes an argument between Sonny and his guardian, the narrator states:

This day, when Sonny came in, Isabel’s mother showed him the letter and asked where he’d been spending his time. And she finally got it out of him that he’d been down in Greenwich Village, with musicians and other characters, in a white girl’s apartment. And this scared her and she started to scream at him … Sonny didn’t play the piano that day. (Baldwin 12) 

This further explains how when Sonny was forcefully stopped from pursing his phantasy, he was faced with the grim and horrid truth of his environment, an environment that will mercilessly destroy him which he believed he had a chance of escaping. He had come to the realization that he could no longer avoid the truth and coped with Harlem in the traditional manner. As the narrator learns the truth about Sonny’s condition he states, “He had been picked up, the evening before, in a raid on an apartment downtown, for peddling and using heroin. I couldn’t believe it:” (Baldwin 1) This demonstrates how to cope with the fact that his phantasy was destroying him rather than helping him, Sonny returned to the traditional methods of surviving Harlem. These methods are the exact reasons why young black children are destined to be products of their surroundings. 

James Baldwin’s critique of society, when viewed through Sigmund Freud’s concept of phantasies, is that young black children are destined to become victims of their environment. As an attempt to withdraw from the grim truth surrounding them, young black children delve into phantasies, or their desired reality, to find hope in fleeing their environment. By doing so, they become blind to the truth of their unjust lives and eventually fulfill their fate of becoming a casualty of their community. This is supported through Baldwin’s short story “Sonny’s Blues” through his character Sonny as his failed attempt to escape Harlem through his passions led to him escaping Harlem through drugs. It is ignorant to say that the racism and discrimination of the past has vanished with the modernization of society. Therefore, it is imperative to acknowledge the hardships people of color in America have faced throughout history and continue to change the prejudice against them. 

Draft #2

The Raw Power of Artistic Expression 

To state that society is unflawed and holds no imperfections is an obtuse statement. Authors throughout history have always made it a point to leave their own critiques and opinions on society’s flaws. James Baldwin, a well-respected author, had done so through his own short story. His critique of society can be supported through Sigmund Freud’s lectures of psychoanalysis.  James Baldwin’s critique of society, when viewed through Sigmund Freud’s concepts of sublimation and artistic gift, is that young black men can create beauty from their anguish; this is seen in his short story “Sonny’s Blues” through his character, Sonny, as he learns to express his pain through his passion. 

In the 1940’s, Harlem became the heart of the black community in New York City as many people of color migrated north to escape the dangers of southern living (Simons 545). Baldwin, who had grown up in Harlem during this time (Baldwin 33), had experienced first-hand the emotional scarring caused by racism in the city. In his own words, Baldwin states:

 It was an insult to be called black in those years when I was growing up, and part of my father’s disaster and part of the danger which menaced the entire family was our relationship toward our own blackness, which was very painful. It was a matter of humiliation and self-humiliation… (pg. 33) 

Baldwin intricately describes how the discrimination he had faced had infected and manipulated his identity as a black man. It had manipulated his identity in such a way that he could not completely accept himself, as he viewed his own selfhood as an embarrassment. Baldwin himself had acknowledged that to combat such brutality, one must develop different techniques to cope with such an unfortunate reality (Baldwin 34). He discusses such techniques in his own writings, where he incorporates his experience of growing up in a society that is against young black men.

In “Sonny’s Blues”, Baldwin portrays the torment the young black men of Harlem experience as they endure their environment. The narrator of this short story describes with clarity how these boys must grow in a world that limits their capabilities. For instance, the narrator states, “These boys, now, were living as we’d been living then, they were growing up with a rush and their heads bumped abruptly against the low ceiling of their actual possibilities. They were filled with rage” (Baldwin 1). This illustrates how these young men are filled with immense anguish and anger as they come to the debilitating conclusion that society will never accept them as adept beings. This will cause them to restrict their own future to fit society’s standards. 

Because of this, young black men resort to different techniques, as described by Baldwin, to manage their sorrows. The narrator represents this through his own brother, Sonny, as his technique to alleviate his torment is to abuse heroin. As the narrator is having a discussion with Sonny, Sonny states, “‘When she was singing before,’ said Sonny, abruptly, ‘her voice reminded me for a minute of what heroin feels like sometimes – when it’s in your veins. It makes you feel sort of warm and cool at the same time … It makes you feel – in control’” (Baldwin 15-16). Here, Sonny expresses how his addiction had allowed him to release his misery and reclaim his personhood, which his crippling environment had taken from him. Such a release, however, is destructive and can never be viewed as acceptable.

For Sonny to properly relieve himself of his suffering, he must demolish the negative coping mechanism of heroin use and substitute it with an acceptable method. Such a statement can be supported through Freuds fifth lecture as he states:

 We know of a far more expedient process of development, called ‘sublimation’, in which the energy of the infantile wishful impulses is not cut off but remains ready for use – the unserviceable aim of the various impulses being replaced by one that is higher, and perhaps no longer sexual (2238).

Freud emphasizes how through sublimation; an individual can redirect the influence of an unfavorable wishful impulse into one that is sustainable. Sonny does so by redirecting the anguish he puts into heroin use and sublimates it into his long-desired passion of piano playing. As Sonny attempts to convince the narrator to attend his performance, he states:

‘I’m going to sit in with some fellows in a joint in the Village.’ ‘You mean, you’re going to play, tonight?’ ‘That’s right …  there’s no way of getting it out – that storm inside. You can’t talk it and you can’t make love with it, and when you finally try to get with it and play it, you realize nobody’s listening. So you’ve got to listen’ (Baldwin 15,17). 

Sonny describes in depth how for him to acceptably soothe his despair, he must bring it to life through music. This causes his passion of playing the piano to become more than a remedy, but a gift. 

As music is considered a form of the arts, Sonny’s passion for piano can be described as an artistic gift (Freud 2235). This can be supported through Freud’s fifth lecture as he states:

If a person who is at loggerheads with reality possesses an artistic gift (a thing that is still a psychological mystery to us), he can transform his phantasies into artistic creations instead of into symptoms … he can escape the doom of neurosis and by this roundabout path regain his contact with reality. (Cf. Rank, 1907.) (2235) 

Freud explains how if an individual possesses an artistic gift, they can represent their illness in a physical form; this allows the artistic expression to overpower the impairing mental conflict. Sonny’s piano playing provides him with this exact result. This can be seen as Sonny begins to play for his brother, the narrator: 

And, as though he commanded, Sonny began to play. Something began to happen … they all gathered around Sonny and Sonny played. Every now and again one of them seemed to say, amen. Sonny’s fingers filled the air with life, his life … It was very beautiful because it wasn’t hurried and it was no longer a lament … Freedom lurked around us and I understood, at last, that he could help us to be free if we would listen, that he would never be free until we did (Baldwin 20). 

Here, Sonny projected his anguish into his music and created a beautiful result that was acknowledged by all who heard. The vigor Sonny placed into his music overpowered his long-endured misery. 

            James Baldwin’s critique of society, when viewed through Sigmund Freud’s concepts of sublimation and artistic gift, is that young black men can create beauty from their anguish. To cope with the negative effects of their environment, young black boys will develop different methods to endure their suffering. However, should this method be detrimental or unhealthy in any way, they must sublimate it into an acceptable and beneficial outlet. This outlet has the opportunity of becoming an artistic gift and therefore can become a beautiful byproduct of a sorrowful experience. Because of this, it must be acknowledged that creative expression is a key factor in unlocking an individual’s raw and true emotions.