Sonny’s Blues

by

James Baldwin

The Cup of Trembling

At the end of the story the narrator has had an epiphany due to Sonny’s music, and Baldwin introduces a symbol—“the cup of trembling”—to encapsulate the moment. This image is about salvation, and it…

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Darkness

Throughout the story, Baldwin uses imagery of darkness to signal the dangers and traumas of growing up black in Harlem. This begins early on; in the first paragraph, when the narrator is reeling from the…

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