The Escape Theme in Sonny’s Blues and The Adventures of...

Escape in â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† by James Baldwin and Huck in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain Both the narrator in â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† by James Baldwin and Huck in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain feel the urge to escape from their reality as a means of attaining happiness and finding their way in life. However, their reasons for escaping are completely different and so are the ways in which they manage to do so. The aim of this essay is, therefore, to discuss the how and why the Narrator in â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† and Huck escape. We will start by briefly looking into both characters’ backgrounds in order to be able to understand the reasons and circumstances that led them to escape. First, it is worth mentioning†¦show more content†¦Given a short account of their social backgrounds, it is not surprising that they be driven by different urges to escape the situation in which they are. On the one hand, the Narrator in â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† is evidently trying to escape the black people’s burden which is illustrated in the following excerpt: â€Å" So we drove along [...] killing streets of our childhood. These streets hadn’t changed, though a housing project jutted up out of them now like rocks in the middle of a boiling sea. Most of the houses in which we had grown up had vanished, as had the stores from which we had stolen, the basements in which we had first tried sex, the rooftops from which we had hurled tin cans and bricks† . He does so by neglecting his i dentity, that is to say, his roots, and clinging to the white community’s conventions and lifestyle. However, he seems unaware of the fact that what he is escaping from, is his identity rather than a mere place or situation. He says: â€Å"It might be said, perhaps, that I had escaped after all, I was a school teacher...† In fact, he not only escapes by becoming a school teacher but he also does so by identifying himself with classical music, which seems to him the only acceptable type, even to the extent of ignoring completely, for example , who Charlie Parker, father of the modern jazz style, is. Huck Finn, on the other hand, rejecting being civilized by widow Douglas andShow MoreRelatedHow to Read Lit Like a Prof Notes3608 Words   |  15 Pagesgood, being based on Hamlet won’t save it. 6. When in Doubt, It’s from Shakespeare†¦ a. Writers use what is common in a culture as a kind of shorthand. Shakespeare is pervasive, so he is frequently echoed. b. See plays as a pattern, either in plot or theme or both. Examples: i. Hamlet: heroic character, revenge, indecision, melancholy nature ii. Henry IV—a young man who must grow up to become king, take on his responsibilities iii. Othello—jealousy iv. Merchant of Venice—justice vs. mercy v. King Lear—aging