How do the minor characters in the story function to help

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Reference no: EM133791195

Homework: Character Paper- "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin

Summary

Baldwin's story comments on the importance of listening as a way to connect with and understand ourselves and others. Over the course of the story, we observe the narrator transform from someone who lacks empathy and refuses to listen to those around him, most importantly his brother, Sonny. In the climactic scene in the jazz club the narrator clearly tells us his epiphany about the importance of listening before reflecting on his family with empathy. Your paper will examine how Baldwin uses elements of character to explore this theme of listening and its relation to various topics such as suffering, music, family, empathy, trauma etc. Your paper doesn't have to comment on all of these topics but your analysis should focus on the narrator's character transformation as it relates to the central theme of listening and some of these topics.

Paper Structure

I. First Paragraph: Identify the author and title and provide a concise summary (4-6 sentences) of the story. End the first paragraph with your thesis statement.

II. Second Paragraph: Examine the narrator and how he changes over the course of the story as it relates to your thesis statement. Provide and analyze textual evidence (short quotes) in support of your claims. Your analysis should connect with and support your thesis statement.

III. Third and Fourth Paragraph: How do events in the past, presented as flashbacks or as the narrator's recollections, help to develop the narrator in "Sonny's Blues"? Focus on the narrator's description of the Sunday dinners at home, the death of their uncle, and the narrator's last conversation with their mother. What do we learn about the narrator from what he chooses to observe and remember and the way describes these moments? Provide textual evidence (short quotes) to support your claims. Your analysis should connect with and support your thesis statement.

IV. Fifth Paragraph: How do the minor characters in the story function to help develop the story, the characters of Sonny and his brother? Select two. (Isabel, Sonny's childhood friend, their parents, their uncle, the jazz musicians at the Village club). Provide textual evidence (short quotes) to support your claims.Your analysis should connect with and support your thesis statement.

V. Sixth Paragraph-Conclusion: Remind the reader of how elements of character help shape the theme of listening.

Reference no: EM133791195

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