Sonny's Blues Symbolism, Imagery & Allegory

Jazz music symbolizes different things to different characters in this story. The narrator doesn't know anything about jazz. He associates it with a certain "element" of people, people he doesn't...

Images of ice appear at various points in the story, symbolizing fear, dread, and the feeling of being unsettled or shocked. For example, when the narrator first reads about Sonny's arrest, he des...

Light appears in many forms throughout "Sonny's Blues" – as moonlight, as a spotlight, sometimes even as the absence of light. Light illuminates, both literally and figuratively. When Sonny and...