An Artist's Struggle

"Sonny's Blues," and "This Evening, This Morning, So Soon": if I was forced to name the main theme of these two Baldwin short stories, I would probably say that Sonny's Blues is about the developing relationship between brothers, and "This Evening" is about the international effects of racism. 

Yet in both stories, the struggle of the artist is also a key aspect. Sonny, a jazz pianist, and Unnamed Narrator, a singer and actor, both seek to overcome the boundaries of their situations as well as their personal limitations. In both stories, Baldwin provides a scene where we see the artist reach a sort of maturity, not only in music or acting but also a greater personal understanding.

Sonny has always felt trapped by the limitations of his neighborhood, Harlem. "Look, brother. I don't want to stay in Harlem no more, I really don't. (127)" touches off an exchange between Sonny and the narrator that has an undercurrent of anxiety on Sonny's part as he tries to justify his decisions to join the army and become a musician to his older brother. To Sonny, Harlem is not only where there the scent of trash, but also is where drug problems can easily trap him: "I couldn't tell you when Mama died-but the reason I wanted to leave Harlem so bad was to get away  from drugs. And then, when I ran away, that's what I was running from-really," Sonny confides to his brother right after inviting him to come hear him play at a club. 

In a way, Sonny never succeeds in physically escapes his situation; his drug problems return, culminating in his arrest and imprisonment. However, Sonny can escape into his music, as seen the final scene of the story, as he plays with Creole and the band. At first, he is channeling his own suffering to create something, and his music is a lament. Sonny comments earlier on hearing the voice of a women at the revival he and the narrator stop by, saying that "While I was downstairs before, on my way here, listening to that woman sing, it struck me all of a sudden how much suffering she must have had to go through-to sing like that. " Blues, after all, could mean either the type of music or hard times.

As the song reaches its climax though, Sonny's playing no longer becomes a lament, but instead an expression of freedom: "Freedom lurked around us and I understood, at last, that he could help us to be free if we would listen, that he would never be free until we did." In that moment where Sonny has "made it his," after not playing for a year, Sonny achieves a new sense of himself and narrator comes to understand his brother.

Comparing Sonny's struggle, the struggle of the Unnamed Narrator of "This Evening" resolves much faster, but it certainly isn't easy. After playing his character of Chico in a totally unconvincing way, Vidal pulls himself for a long discussion about the Narrator's empathy for Chico trying to get a job, which transitions into a discussion of race. The Narrator begins with a sort of brush-off attitude, satisfied with his own somewhat-cynical ideas about race, ("'Oh God, I said, 'please don't give me any of this equality-in-anguish business'") but Vidal shuts him down with the reality of French race ("You think that I--we--are not paying for our history?") As the Narrator is challenged to think about his own identity, he presumably develops the mindset that lets him give his star performance, just as Sonny's maturation allowed him to produce such powerful music.

What are your thoughts on the way artists are portrayed in Going to Meet the Man?

Halfway Reflection on Short Story

As the first quarter closes in Short Story, I want to comment on some of the more memorable stories we've had:

Top three most enjoyable stories to read:

1. "When Engaging Enemy Targets, Remember"- Gavin Ford Kovite 

The unique Choose-Your-Own-Adventure style of the narrator didn't seem like just a gimmick; the choices it presented gave me a new perspective on the consequences of choices in wartime. The limited number of choices, as well as actions you could took that had no consequences, such as throwing the bottle at the car, was powerful symbolism. The interactive aspect made this story both thought-provoking and fun.

2."John S's Blue Period"-J.D. Salinger
I can see how some may not like the narrator, but I found his ridiculous mannerisms and way of speaking to be quite funny, as well as possessing a degree of self-awareness of his own absurdity. The strange non-plot of pursuing an artistically talented nun was a refreshing break from some of the heavier subject matter we've had in this class. Not to mention that the narrator's tongue-in-cheek of the student's bad art are some of the funniest passages in the book.

3. "The Things They Carried"-Tim O' Brien
I won't be able to forget the first encounter with The Things They Carried. While it wasn't as funny or entertaining like the previous two, O'Brien's oddly hypnotic and tightly-crafted prose drew me in and set expectations high for the rest of the collection. Favorite sentence:

 I'm sorry, motherfuckers, but I'm out of it, I'm goofed, I'm on a space cruise, I'm gone!—and it was a restful, unencumbered sensation, just riding the light waves, sailing that big silver freedom bird over the mountains and oceans, over America, over the farms and great sleeping cities and cemeteries and highways and the golden arches of McDonald's, it was flight, a kind of fleeing, a kind of falling, falling higher and higher, spinning off the edge of the earth and beyond the sun and through the vast, silent vacuum where there were no burdens and where everything weighed exactly nothing—Gone! they screamed. 

Top three stories I learned the most from

1. "Teddy"-J.D. Salinger

Since this was the story I was in a discussion leading group for, it's isn't really surprising that I feel I got to know this story best. For me, though, analyzing "Teddy" was the key that tied Nine Stories together. I think many of you'll agree, based on the number posts commenting on the connections between "Teddy" and "A Perfect Day for Bananafish." "Teddy" was one of the more difficult stories, was an ambiguous ending, unclear conflict, and a complex protagonist in Teddy, but that made it ultimately more rewarding.

2. "How to Tell a True War Story"-Tim O' Brien

As "Teddy" tied many themes of Nine Stories together (including Zen Buddhism), "How to Tell a True War Story" brought O' Brien's collection together. It was even more wildly experimental than "When Engaging Targets" that we read earlier; it didn't have as much a cohesive plot than small anecdotes all connected by commentary on war stories. Discussing this story set the groundwork for a lot of the later metafictional sections in The Things They Carried, and showed me a versatility in the genre that extended past beginning, middle, and end.

3. "Previous Condition"-James Baldwin

Having not taken African-American Lit before, "Previous Condition" was one of my few exposures to reading and discussion of black-white race issues. Although some of the Native Son comments in class go over my head, I thought getting this exposure was valuable just like reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian in Sophomore English was, even before taking Native American and Chicano Lit-- it stretched me to think about settings strange to me.

Favorite author: J. D Salinger

It was certainly a close contest between O' Brien and Salinger. O' Brien is smoother to read and digest than Salinger, but Salinger's stories portrayed more interesting characters in my opinion and edged out in that regard.

O' Brien's characterization is quite explicit; and character traits, like Dobbin's large, friendly manner and Rat Kiley's sentimentalism are pretty clear and sometimes stated outright. In The Things They Carried, I always felt I got to know the characters pretty well quickly, which was part of the appeal. Meanwhile in Salinger, we're allowed more interpretation of the characters. For example, what kind of person is Ginny really in "Just Before the War with the Eskimo," and what is the nature of her relationship with the sandwich? 

Least favorite author: Ernest Hemingway

I had already written a blog post earlier on Hemingway's style, but reiterating, I just felt like it didn't mesh with me. There's something to be said for letting the reader do some of the heavy-lifting, but I felt like other short story authors we read accomplished that without the excessively dry effect that Hemingway created. I understand that later authors were greatly influenced by him, but considering them all at once I felt Hemingway was the least compelling. Who knows: in the future, I may come to appreciate his writing more.

Zen and Teddy

After our class discussion on Teddy, there was one point that we didn't get to mention: the relationship of Nine Stories epigraph to the rest of the book and Teddy in particular. The epigraph reads, "What is the sound of one hand clapping? -Zen Koan." A koan in Zen Buddhism is an often illogical anecdote or parable that demonstrates some aspect of Zen teaching or tests a student's understanding of Zen. The full koan from which the epigraph is taken can be read at the following link: http://www.ashidakim.com/zenkoans/21thesoundofonehand.html and is an excellent demonstration of the genre's rejection of logic.

In Teddy, we see many themes that relate to the ideas of Zen Buddhism, such as rebirth, enlightenment, prediction and the rejection of logic and materialism, that can be recognized in the context of Zen koans. For example, both Teddy and Seymour's rejection of materialism is seen in koan called "No Attachment to Dust":"Living in the world yet not forming attachments to the dust of the world is the way of a true Zen student."

Another striking example is Teddy's seeming ability to predict his own death, which appears in the koan called "The Last Poem of Hoshin" about a Zen master named Hoshin. The effect of the ending, with its suddenness and absolute lack of explanation, had the same effect upon me as the ending in Teddy. The latter part is reproduced here, but you can read the whole thing at http://www.ashidakim.com/zenkoans/10thelastpoemofhoshin.html.

Hoshin, who related this story, told his disciples: "It is not necessary for a Zen master to predict his passing, but if he really wishes to do so, he can."

"Can you?" someone asked.

"Yes," answered Hoshin. "I will show you what I can do seven days from now."

None of the disciples believed him, and most of them had even forgotten the conversation when Hoshin called them together.

"Seven days ago," he remarked, "I said I was going to leave you. It is customary to write a farewell poem, but I am neither a poet or a calligrapher. Let one of you inscribe my last words."

His followers thought he was joking, but one of them started to write.

"Are you ready?" Hoshin asked.

"Yes sir," replied the writer.

Then Hoshin dictated:

I came from brillancy
And return to brillancy.
What is this?

This line was one line short of the customary four, so the disciple said: "Master, we are one line short." Hoshin, with the roar of a conquering lion, shouted "Kaa!" and was gone.

In another example, Teddy's idea of clearing away all what children are taught, when asked how he would change the educational system, is seen in a Zen koan called "A Cup of Tea" that mirrors Teddy's idea that we have to reject all preconceived notions, even of basic concepts like what we think an arm is, to achieve spirituality:

Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen.

Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor's cup full, and then kept on pouring.

The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. "It is overfull. No more will go in!"

"Like this cup," Nan-in said, "you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?"

Although many of Teddy's ideas are similar to Zen's, a final question is Teddy's own relationship to Zen. He often references the capital G God, and also relates his spirituality back to the Christian tradition by discussing Adam in the Garden of Eden as if it were a historical fact. His idea of enlightenment is more the reaching of heaven, and becoming able to spend eternity with God, rather than becoming a greater spiritual being, a Buddha. In this way, Teddy represents an odd mixture of two Eastern and Western spirituality.