This is a literary analysis that I wrote in the 11th grade on the book "Sonny's Blues".

The world that we live in is a dangerous and dark place. There is no area that is immune to pain in suffering, but there are ways to deal with the pain and try to see the finer points in life. Music is one of those ways. In James Baldwin's short story "Sonny's Blues", music serves as a momentary exodus from the shadowy world of the Harlem streets. At the narrator's school, the boy is …

…there are drugs, despair, heartbreak, and pain. But there is also still music. And in Sonny's Blues, that music helped save the life of a young man. It offered him an escape when he was surrounded by darkness. It gave his life meaning when he found that it was his true passion. And it ultimately gave meaning to the lives of those who surrounded him and were lucky enough to hear him share his gift.