Often, literature is based on real-life experiences. We all suffer in our lives. Works of literature portray people’s reactions to suffering, and their way of suffering. James Baldwin, Ernest Hemingway, and other authors use the theme to add drama and reality to their stories.
James Baldwin’s Sonny’s Blues is a story about Sonny the young jazz musician, who fights his heroin addiction. Narrating his story, we hear his brother’s pain. Sonny’s arrest for selling and using drugs is revealed in the beginning. He then moves into the home of the narrator in Harlem after his release. We can better understand the story’s different sufferings through the narrator. The characters all suffer in different ways. In addition to drug addiction, there are other issues that come up in the story, such as poverty, grief and limited opportunities. Some characters struggle to escape pain, while other characters accept it.
Sonny’s drug addiction is one of the obvious ways he suffers. Sonny was a high school student when, according the narrator’s account, he began to use heroine. He is currently a teacher at a highschool. He said, “I knew that Sonny couldn’t have had heroin the first time he tried it. He was younger than these boys now.” (265). Sonny began using heroin when he was a teenager in Harlem, where drugs and poverty are abundant. Sonny left Harlem in order to escape the poverty he felt, but drugs still held him.
In his teens, he struggled to escape poverty and felt more in control of life when he used drugs. In Harlem where he couldn’t control what was happening, he started using heroin. “…how heroin makes you feel sometimes…warm, cool…it helps you to feel in control. You have to feel that way sometimes” (286). His brother tells him that heroin is what helped him survive his misery living in Harlem. He also explains his feeling of control when he is under the effects: “No way, you can’t avoid suffering.” You will try everything to avoid drowning, to stay in control, and to make the experience seem like ….”. He thought the heroine suffering was his choice, unlike the Harlem suffering which was out of his control.
Sonny suffered as well from his time in prison and the knowledge that he had hurt his family. Sonny, who was in jail at the time, received a note from his older brother. In response, he wrote, “You can’t imagine how much I wanted to hear your voice.” It was my intention to write to you often, but as I got older I realized that I had hurt you. I therefore didn’t. His brother was not contacted because his mental and physical suffering was caused by jail. He didn’t reach out to his brother when he most needed it because he felt guilty for letting him down.
Sonny’s suffering isn’t the only thing that the narrator feels. He also feels grief. The narrator’s shock was heightened when he heard that Sonny has been arrested on charges of drug possession and sale. “A large block of ice settled in my stomach and melted slowly throughout the day, as I taught algebra. It was special ice…Sometimes if hardened and expanded, I felt that my guts might spill out. I also thought that I would choke. He is unable or unwilling to speak his feelings. He doesn’t collapse, as if this was something he expected to happen sooner rather than later. The narrator has anger – anger at Harlem and his brother’s behavior, anger at Sonny for not changing his ways. He meets someone who used to be an old friend. This old friend is a drug addict. The narrator thought the man was Sonny for a moment, but then realized that it wasn’t Sonny. He also remembered Sonny. Because of the similarity between Sonny and his old friend, the narrator feels a strong hatred towards him. The narrator tells him what Sonny will be like after prison. The man wants money from the narrator as he leaves. Since he knows what the money will be used for, it makes him feel sympathetic. “All of the sudden, I felt something give and threaten to pour out. I no longer hated him. I thought that I might start crying in an instant” (268). He doesn’t want to hate him anymore, but his grief is almost physical. Seeing him brings back memories for him of the brother he had before leaving Harlem.
Harlem’s boys are also subjected to suffering, which isn’t discussed. Harlem can be a hard place to live, and their chances of escaping are very limited. The narrator compares Sonny and his situation in Harlem to theirs. “These young boys are living in the same circumstances as us, growing up fast and hitting the limits of their possibilities.” (265). The boys are aware that they have little chance of changing their circumstances, overcoming the obstacles that prevent them from succeeding and achieving their goals.
This story shows different expressions of suffering. Others are dealing directly with their suffering, while others are not. No matter how they choose to view it, all people will suffer in some way.
In Ernest Hemingway’s novella “Indian Camp,” Nick and his father, a doctor who lives on the other bank of the Lake, visit an American Indian Camp. Uncle George is also there. His father had been called to assist with the birth of a child for an American Indian mother who was in labor since two days. Nick is watching as she suffers and the situation unfolds before his eyes.
This story is a tale of suffering. The suffering of two characters is due to the unborn child. Each character has their own way of dealing with both mental and physical suffering.
The Indian woman has been in pain for two days. The doctor has not been able to calm her down because he does not have anesthetic. The Indian woman suffered more pain after the doctor began operating on her with no surgical supplies. The doctor proudly explains how he performed his operation: “…a Caesarian by using a Jackknife. It was then stitched up with tapered gut leads of nine-foot length. She can’t control the pain she is in, but when Uncle George lies next to it, she is able to tolerate it. She bit into his arm as he and 3 other Indian men held her while the surgeon operated.
The husband of the Indian woman is in pain because he has to watch his wife go through labor. He is ashamed that his wife, even if it was a man of color, had impregnated her. His foot was badly cut by an axe, and he is suffering physical pain. He was in pain from listening to his wife’s screams of pain, as he could not escape them and knew that Uncle George is the only person responsible for her situation. Nick is asking his father to get her to stop screaming and the doctor says “…her screamings are not that important. They are not important to me, so I can’t hear their screams (480). As soon the husband heard him say that, he “rolled into the wall” (480). The white men are also mentally oppressing him, and the doctor does not consider his wife’s pain important. Men are not allowed to admit their weakness in society. The husband takes his mental pain in silence, which eventually leads to suicide.
Nicks then asks about the Indian man’s husband. Nicks asked his father “Why did he do it, Daddy?” The father responded, “I’m not sure, Nick.” He couldn’t bear it, I think” (481). Nick’s Dad knows that Indian Man couldn’t stand the mental pain and so committed suicide.
Both characters have different responses to their pain. The gender plays a part in the way both Indian men and Indian women choose to handle their pain. Suffering may be associated with weakness. This is why Indian men do not speak out. He stayed on his bed until he could no longer take it. The Indian woman expressed herself but, because she’s a lady, her signs were considered normal.
Suffering refers to a condition of unavoidable physical, mental, or emotional pain. What determines how a sufferer will overcome their issues is their choice of dealing with it. James Baldwin and Ernest Hemingway have both used the theme to great effect in illustrating how suffering affects people under different circumstances.
