1950s Harlem’s society through psychoanalysis
In the short story “Sonny’s Blues”, James Baldwin criticizes the way society worked in Harlem during the 1950s. This society pushed and oppressed poor and black people, shortening their opportunity for success. This happened to people aspiring to become something out of the ordinary and traditional. On one side, two articles exposing the Harlem of this era give us a more relatable perspective of this situation. On the other side, Freudian concepts such as artistic gift and id, ego and superego give us a clear view on how these characters behave in an oppressive society.
Taking into account Sonny’s actions during the story a conclusion can be made. His bad decisions were caused by his Artistic Gift. When the story begins Sonny’s brother is narrating it while Sonny is in jail. Sonny went to jail due to illegal consumption of heroin (Baldwin). As the story unfolds, we notice Sonny’s desire of becoming a musician. When Sonny and his brother are having a conversation about Sonny’s future Sonny gets mad. “I was beginning to realize that I’d never seen him so upset before.” (Baldwin 10). Sonny gets upset because his brother is not taking him seriously. This reaction from Sonny shows us the passion and eagerness he feels for this dream, becoming a musician. Taking into account the change in Sonny’s actions, it is necessary to involve Freud’s concepts of psychoanalysis in this situation, especifically, Artistic Gift. Freud says that when someone poses an artistic gift, this person transforms their bad habits into artistic creations (Freud). This is the same situation as Sonny. Before, he used heroin as a relief. Forward in the story he uses the same energy to play music. This is a change explained by Freud in this definition of Artistic Gift. Connecting this to the main argument, Sonny was classified as a hoodlum for his crime. These actions were caused by his cravings and phantasies of becoming a Jazz musician. These bad decisions he made during the early phase of his Artistic Gift caused him to have a bad reputation. During a conversation between Sonny’s brother and Sonny’s friend, the friend says this “I thought Sonny was a smart boy, I thought he was too smart to get hung” (Balwin 2). Sonny’s bad decisions made him look like a not very smart person in the eyes of his brother and friend.
Continuing on the theme of Sonny’s decisions, the Id, ego and super come into action. Considering the positions in society Sonny and his brother have we can conclude how society worked at that time. Sonny’s brother had a better reputation overall, being an Algebra teacher. Since the traditional is accepted and the non ordinary is not, Sonny was not considered a respected person in that society. Based on the measures to judge that said society had, we can embed the concepts of Freud, Id, ego and superego to show in depth the social position of Sonny and his brother. Freud shows us that the Id, ego and superego are part of our personality. The Id being the primitive and impulsive part of the mind, the superego is the moral conscience and the ego is the realistic part that deals with the Id and superego (Freud). Applying these concepts into “Sonny’s Blues” we can come to understand how society worked. In this society of Harlem in the 1950s, Sonny was considered the Id, the primitive part of society. Sonny followed his desires and impulses instead of society’s rules. “I ain’t learning nothing in school,” he said. “Even when I go.” (Baldwin 11). Sonny decided to leave school and follow his instincts to become a Jazz musician. This decision made him look even further removed from society. On the other side of the story, Sonny’s brother is the opposite case. He went to school and became an Algebra teacher. He can be considered as the superego of the society since he decided to study and follow society’s rules making his family “proud”. The reality, the ego, is different. This society cuts the wings of those pursuing ways of living out of the ordinary, like Sonny. Sonny had a really hard time becoming a musician due to the pressure society had on him.
Life in Harlem after the Harlem Renaissance in 1920 was not any better. Harlem was filled with racism, oppression and homophobia. This is supported by “James Baldwin: Living in Fire”. This book written by Bill V. Mullen relates the life of James Baldwin. “Baldwin was proletarianized by work, hardened by encounters with racism, buffeted about sexually by competing urges—his queerness dawning—and slowly, incrementally self-educated in prevailing…:” ( Mullen 22-46). Balwin was black and openly gay. This caused a lot of obstacles in the society he lived in. Taking this into account, we can classify Sonny as a personal reflection of Baldwin. Balwin wanted to place all the racism and all the oppression he had to endure throughout his life into this one character, Sonny. This other article by Sirpa Salenius validates this argument. “Many of James Baldwin’s stories concentrate on the construction of marginalized identities placed within such cultural capitals as Paris or cosmopolitan centers like New York, where the marginalized black neighborhood of Harlem epitomizes Baldwin’s racially and sexually subordinate characters who struggle to accept their subjectivity and surroundings” ( Salenius 2). This idea of being represented and identified by the characters in his stories was typical from Baldwin. By connecting this to the main argument, we can understand how society in Harlem during the 1950s worked. Sonny was oppressed and left aside for who he wanted to become. On the other hand, Baldwin was not discriminated against by who he wanted to become but by who he was.
To conclude, through the knowledge of Freud’s theories on psychoanalysis and Mullen’s and Salenius’ texts about James Baldwin we can agree on Baldwin’s critique of society. The Harlem of the 1950s was very oppressive, racism and discrimating towards black and poor people. With Freud’s concepts of Artistic Gift, the Id, ego and superego we can explain the characters’ behavior in that oppressive society in “Sonny’s Blues”. Also, with Mullen’s and Salenius’ texts we can explain the meaning behind the character of Sonny and his connection with James Baldwin.
Works Cited
Baldwin, James. “Sonny’s Blues” The Oxford Book of American Short Stories edited by Joyce Carol Oates, Oxford University Press, 2013 pp. 483-513.
Freud , Sigmung. 5 Lectures on Psychoanalysis . 1910. Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/b446/cfb00094a2e62f82e8c8e430581891ca4e47.pdf?_ga=2.153662776.1893964575.1597526595-1709737971.1597526595
Mullen, Bill V. “Dissidence, Disillusionment, Resistance: 1942–48.” In James Baldwin: Living in Fire, 22-46. London: Pluto Press, 2019. Accessed December 8, 2020. doi:10.2307/j.ctvpbnnm0.6.
Salenius, Sirpa. “Marginalized Identities and Spaces: James Baldwin’s Harlem, New York.” Journal of Black Studies 47, no. 8 (2016): 883-902. Accessed December 8, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26174233.
