Sonny’s Blues
Harlem 1950s
Harlem Today
Contrast these two images.
Objective
• Students will build necessary
background knowledge for reading
“Sonny’s Blues” by viewing related
non-print text.
• Students will begin reading “Sonny’s
Blues”.
AgendaAgenda
Bell Work
Share Out
Background for Sonny’s Blues
Group reads “Sonny’s Blues”
together
• Independent reading of “Sonny’s
Blues”
– Complete Guided Questions
while reading
•
•
•
•
• Clean Up
Gallery
Gallery
What is the setting?
• Post World War II Harlem
• Artists establish Greenwich Village as cultural
capital
– Responding to the crisis caused by the war
• 50s leading up to the radical 60s
• African American soldiers returning home from
the war and heading north towards Harlem
– instead of finding new job opportunities and equal
rights, they found newly constructed housing
projects and vast urban slums
HARLEM SHADOWS
by Claude McKay
HEAR the halting footsteps of a lass
In Negro Harlem when the night lets
fall
Its veil. I see the shapes of girls who
pass
Eager to heed desire's insistent call:
Ah, little dark girls, who in slippered
feet
Go prowling through the night from
street to street.
Through the long night until the silver
break
Of day the little gray feet know no
rest,
Through the lone night until the last
snow-flake
Has dropped from heaven upon the
earth's white breast,
The dusky, half-clad girls of tired feet
Are trudging, thinly shod, from street
to street.
Ah, stern harsh world, that in the
wretched way
Of poverty, dishonor and disgrace,
Has pushed the timid little feet of clay.
The sacred brown feet of my fallen
race!
Ah, heart of me, the weary, weary feet
In Harlem wandering from street to
street.
Blues
• The blues became a
dialogue between a human
being and his guitar
• Comes from slave spiritual
songs
• Expresses the sadness and
hardships experienced by
people
http://www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v=EgaxYEsEVVY
Jazz
• Breaks the traditional
conventions of music
• Music that relies on
instinct, not structure
• Derives from the Blues
• Originated in southern
black communities
• Famous musicians: Louis
Armstrong, Charlie Parker,
Ella Fitzgerald, etc.
http://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=rnoKOlMomqA
Flashback
A narrative technique that allows a writer
to present past events during current
events, in order to provide background.
By providing background information, the
writer provides the reader with insight
into a character's motivation and/or
background to a conflict.
After we read together…
• Continue to read independently.
• Complete the guided reading
questions.
Bell Work
What do these details reveal about the
narrator’s attitude towards Sonny?
“The seven years' difference in our ages lay between us like a
chasm: I wondered if these years would ever operate between us
as a bridge. I was remembering, and it made it hard to catch my
breath, that I had been there when he was born; and I had heard
the first words he had ever spoken. When he started to walk, he
walked from our mother straight to me. I caught him just before
he fell when he took the first steps he ever took in this world”
(Baldwin, P. 6).
(50 words minimum)
Objective
Students will analyze character
relationships through the use of allusion
in “Sonny’s Blues”.
Allusion
A reference in a literary
work to a person, place,
or thing in history or
another work of
literature.
Turn and Talk
Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the
field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your
brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s
keeper?” And the Lord said, “What have you done?
Do you think Cain really asking if it’s his job to be
concerned about his brother in a loving,
compassionate fashion? OR is he reacting in a
sarcastic manner?
Being Your Brother’s Keeper
• Allusion to Cain & Abel
– Like people kept/cared for sheep, the
brother takes care of his brother
• Means that we have an obligation to
care for our family members
Evaluate
The last time the narrator sees his mother, she
makes him promise to “hold onto his brother”.
Read the following passage from the text. What is
she expecting the narrator to do?
"You got to hold on to your brother," she said,
"and don't let him fall, no matter what it looks
like is happening to him and no matter how
evil you gets with him. You going to be evil
with him many a time. But don't you forget
what I told you, you hear?” (Baldwin, P.11)
After we read together…
• Continue to read independently.
• Complete the guided reading
questions.
Bell Work
Do you think the
narrator is successful at
being Sonny’s keeper?
Use evidence from the
text to support your
opinion.
Bell Work
Would you describe yourself as
someone who reacts to different
events in life, or someone who
doesn’t let occurrences affect
them?
50 words minimum. Provide examples.
Bell Work
How would you describe
yourself (a loyal friend, a
prankster, a leader, nosey sibling
etc.)?
50 words minimum. Provide examples.
Bell Work
If you were a character, would
you be flat or round? What traits
contribute to your personality?
50 words minimum. Provide examples.
Bell Work
Do you think people’s
personalities change over the
course of their lives? Why or why
not?
50 words minimum. Provide examples.
Objective
Students will be able to distinguish between
static, round, flat, and dynamic characters
by completing a characterization chart.
Static Character
• Does not change
much during the
course of the
story.
• They typically
remain the
same.
Dynamic Character
• Changes in some
important way as a
result of the story’s
action.
• These characters show
changes in personality
and attitude.
• http://www.youtube.c
om/watch?v=pQKlstAG
qzU
Flat Character
• Has 1 or 2
personality traits
• They are 1dimensional, like
cardboard
• Can be summed up
in one phrase: loyal
sidekick, the nosey
neighbor, the
buffoon
Round Character
• Shows emotional and
psychological
development
• Complex, like real
people with multiple
dimensions to their
personalities
Types of Narratives:
• Linear: plot structure that
runs in a chronological or
logical cause-and-effect
sequence.
• Episodic: plot made up of
loosely connected events
Character Quiz
The protagonist from the tell-tale heart is a…
a)Flat character
b) Dynamic character
Character Quiz
Doodle, from “The Scarlet Ibis” is a
a) Flat character
b) Round Character
Character Quiz
Lizabeth from “Marigolds” is a
a)Round character
b) Flat character
Character Quiz
John Burke, Ms. Lottie’s son, from “Marigolds” is
a
a)Static Character
b)Dynamic Character
Sonny’s Blues Characters
Complete the characterization
charts for “Sonny’s Blues” in
your packet.
Bell Work
Which of the following struggles would be the
most difficult to overcome? Explain.
 Getting through a blizzard during a power
outage
 A fist fight with Mike Tyson
 Losing records of your identity to a super
computer
 Managing your midlife crisis
 Living in a country with an unfair
government
50 Words minimum
Bell Work
Analyze the following passage. Which type of
conflict is presented?
“Most of the houses in which we had grown up
had vanished, as had the stories from which we
had stolen, the basements we had first tried sex, the
rooftops we had hurled bricks. Boys found
themselves encircles by disaster. Some escaped the
trap, most didn’t. Those who got out always left
something behind, as some animals amputate a leg
and leave it in the trap.” (Refer to P. 7)
50 Words minimum
Objective
Students will be able to analyze conflict using print
and non-print texts.
What is Conflict?
A str ug g le between opposing
for ces
• T her e ar e 2 types of conflict:
– Exter nal
– Inter nal
External Conflict
struggle between a literary or dramatic character and an
outside force such as nature or another character
Internal Conflict
a conflict
involving
opposing
for ces
within a
per son’s
mind
Man vs. Man
• Character struggles with another character
• Ex: arguments, conflicting desires, opposing
goals, physical confrontations or emotional
dilemmas
• External Conflict
Man vs. Nature
• Character vs. the
forces of nature that
are out of the
characters' control
• Ex: diseases, animals,
land, and weather
conditions
• External Conflict
Man vs. Society
• Character
disag rees with
society’s laws,
beliefs, or
values
• Exter nal
conf lict
Man vs. Technology
• Character struggles
against robots, super
computers, or other types
of advanced technology
• Usually in fantasy, science
fiction, and supernatural
books
• External Conflict
Man vs. Self
• Character struggles
with moral dilemmas,
emotional challenges
or desires
• Takes place within
the character’s soul
or conscious
• Internal Conflict
Protagonist
The central character in a story, the one who
initiates and drives the action
Antagonist
• The force that struggles against or blocks the
protagonist in a narrative
• Does not always have to be a person
– Can be nature (an antagonistic storm)
THE PROTAGONIST IS NOT NECESSARILY THE HERO OR THE “GOOD GUY.”
THE ANTAGONIST IS NOT NECESSARILY THE “BAD GUY.”