English 101LaToya Peoples Sonny's Blues: Recurring theme of Good vs. Evil Throughout James Baldwin's story Sonny's Blues, the neighborhood of Harlem is in a constant battle between good and evil. The narrator describes Sonny's encounters with evil, manifested in drugs and crime, as well as his assertive attempts at distancing himself from the darker side. The streets of Harlem are described as a harsh environment which claims the lives of many who have struggled against …
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…story: at which Sonny triumphs over the dark side and finally finds a firm grip among the freedom-fighting soldiers of Harlem. All three of these symbolical details are woven together in "Sonny's Blues" to create a non-literal meaning directly beneath the words. The end result is a message about urban struggles for expression, happiness and freedom. Symbolically, Baldwin paints the picture of war between good and evil and how the soldiers fighting that war triumph.