When I began to read this short story immediately I was pulled in. I was eager to know the story. The introduction on the subway made me curious. What had happened that was written in the newspaper, talked about on the train and everywhere else? This was the first time that I started to read a story and had some many questions just from the first couple of sentences.
It was not clear to me who the speaker was. I also didn’t know the speaker’s relationship to the character Sonny that was mentioned. Why was the narrator afraid for this dude Sonny?
In the story there was a great amount of dialogue. The story was composed of a series of chunky passages broken up by bits of conversation. I found it very hard to keep up with the dialogue. I found myself say “huh?” a lot while reading. Another thing was the movement of the setting and the flow of the story. The story moved along so rapidly. I think it wad to show the fast pace city life.
As I continued to read I got more and more lost? A million and one questions swirled around in my head. At first I truly could not get a feel for the text. I figured it was because I had just finished reading another story just before. Then finally I began to understand. It was hard because the narrator, who was never named, keep telling stories from his past. He just yapped on and on. It would have been so easy to just write a story about a drug addicted brother and call it quits but the author didn’t. James Baldwin really opened my eyes to the relationship between siblings.
5 comments:
I understand your confusion completely! the first time i read this story i didn't understand it at all...it moves very fast and the narration was vague. You kind of have to piece it together as you read. I felt as though i had missed something, but really there were pieces not given to us as the readers. I hope reading other people's blogs helps to clarify some things!
I also was unsure of the narrator's relationship to the Sonny during the beginning of the story. It was hard to keep up with the line of the story with all of the anecdotal information and sub-stories within. It took some reevaluating and re-reading to keep current thoughts and events straight from past ones being reflected on by the narrator. What were some of the questions swirling around in your head?
I was also confused while reading this story and found myself reading some of the saem passages over and over. In some parts I could not tell what was the past and what was the present. I felt like even now my undersatndign of the story may not be complelty accurate. There are still so many un answered questions and some things that I would like to see explored further
I think that I was confused too. The narrator kept shifting settings which made alot of things hard to keep in order. Overall I agree with the sibling relationship
I can see where you could get a little confused but I understood the story and wanted to knwo more. Personally, I like the flashbacks they went well with the story and othere themes; his reminiscing went along with the comparison of laugher in children and the safety in the neighborhood when they were younger. I think Baldwin connected the flashbacks with these comparisons on purpose.
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