Jessica Egizii Prompt 1: A Good Man is Hard to Find rewrite

Jessica Egizii
Prompt 1: A Good Man is Hard to Find rewrite

          A loud rumbling broke the relative silence of the forest and I look just in time to see the source of the thundering. A few hundred meters ahead of me a car flew off the road and rolled over once. I quickly try to decide whether to get involved. I glance in the rear view mirror at my current associates, Hiram and Bobby Lee. I met them in prison and although they weren't that bright they were useful enough. The black beat-up car we stole a few states back is on its last legs and we could use a new car, plus our current wardrobe could use an update. I decide to take a look at who we're up against to see if it's worth the trouble.
          I slowly pull up to the smoking car and the first thing I notice is some crazy old woman waving her arms at me like a maniac. This is gonna be too easy. I park the car a few feet away and mull everything over. Hiram and Bobby Lee stay quiet waiting for my call. The family doesn't seem to recognize me. Good. If they keep their mouths shut there's no need to get messy, I don't need to give nearby cops a reason to be anxious. There's a man, his wife, three kids all relatively young, and an old lady who seems a little off her rocker. Finally I make my decision.
         "Hiram, Bobby Lee we're gonna see if they have anything worth taking, money, food you name and we'll see if we can get their car running. No need to shoot unless we're recognized."
        Wordlessly, they got out of they car and sauntered over to the family, I followed close behind. Now that we were up close, I took a real good look at them. The woman was carrying her baby and seemed to be hurt, the two annoying children seemed to actually be enjoying themselves from all the excitement. The man was clearly flustered and angry and the old woman seemed to be looking at him funny.
       "We've had an ACCIDENT!" the children screamed.
       I ignore the little monsters and carefully make my way toward them, trying not to slip.
      "Good afternoon," I say. "I see you all had you a little spill."
      "We turned over twice!" said the hysterical grandmother.
      "Oncet," I corrected. "We seen it happen. Try their car and see will it run, Hiram," I say quietly.            "What you got that gun for?" one of the children asked. "Whatcha gonna do with that gun?"
      My head begins to pound and if I'm not careful I'll shoot these children in the head now to save me the trouble. Rage begins to build and I have to remind myself that I can not go back to prison now in order for it to subside.
      "Lady," I say to the children's mother, dangerously quiet, "would you mind calling them children to sit down by you? Children make me nervous. I want all you all to sit down right together there where you're at."
      "What are you telling US what to do for?" One child persists in asking and my patience wears even thinner.
     "Come here," said their mother.
     "Look here now," the man began suddenly, "we're in a predicament! We're in . . ."
     The old woman shrieked. She scrambled to her feet and stood staring. "You're The Misfit!" she said. "I recognized you at once!"
      Of course that old goat recognized me.
    "Yes'm," I say, smiling slightly because I know what would have happened if she had only kept quiet, "but it would have been better for all of you, lady, if you hadn't of reckernized me."
    "Now you've done it!" the man yelled, "You've really f***ed it up now! Damn cat hidden in the car! Can't do one damn thing right I don't know why we let you come alone all you ever do is ruin everything you old crone!"
       I started to feel embarrassed for the woman, she was gonna die soon and the last thing she was gonna remember was that her son hated her. It reminded me of my own ma and the last thing she remembered before...
        "Lady," I say, "don't you get upset. Sometimes a man says things he don't mean. I don't reckon he meant to talk to you thataway."
         "You wouldn't shoot a lady, would you?" the old woman said and removed a clean handkerchief from her cuff and began to slap at her eyes with it. What a strange thing to say. What difference does it make? Lady, man, rich, poor, we're all food for the maggots in the end might as well have some fun on the way to the ground. I point the toe of my shoe into the ground and make a little hole and then covered it up again.
         "I would hate to have to," I lie, to keep her calm. There's no need to make this harder, that would take all the fun out of it.
        "Listen," the old woman almost screamed, "I know you're a good man. You don't look a bit like you have common blood. I know you must come from nice people!"
       "Yes mam," I say, "finest people in the world." I smile thinking about my mother and daddy, wondering if this old hag could handle the truth. I don't remember my father so much as his belt and all I recall from my mother was her weak voice telling me it was for my own good. It didn't hurt to rewrite history a little. "God never made a finer woman than my mother and my daddy's heart was pure gold," I say.
        Bobby Lee comes back and I tell him to watch the children. These kids clearly had it good, didn't have to grow up as fast as I did. The innocence made me sick. I realize a silence has begun to hang over the air as the startled family still hasn't fully grasped their fates. I decide to fill the silence.
       "Ain't a cloud in the sky," I remark, looking up at it. "Don't see no sun but don't see no cloud neither."
       "Yes, it's a beautiful day," says the old woman."Listen," she said, "you shouldn't call yourself The Misfit because I know you're a good man at heart. I can just look at you and tell."
        No, I think to myself I'm not a good man at heart. There's no such thing. There's only those who do what they want and those who don't. Either way you end up in prison, whether it's behind bars are locked up in your mind. I know which one I'd rather be in.

Coltrane’s A Love Supreme and "Sonny’s Blues"

Lili Eichler

ENL 10C

14 May 2018

Coltrane’s A Love Supreme and Sonny’s Blues

Jazz has always been a big part of my life –– Ever since I can remember, I’d wake up on Saturday morning to jazz blasting through the house; The only music that was played on car rides was jazz; And I grew up practicing jazz piano. When I read, “Sonny’s Blues,” by James Baldwin, I immediately thought of John Coltrane’s album A Love Supreme. Not only is Coltrane’s album musically moving, like Sonny’s song, but it also emerges from a place of extreme hardship, and even more specifically a struggle with drug-addiction. Like Sonny’s performance, A Love Supreme is the manifestation of a man’s emotional and spiritual journey.

Recorded in 1964, and released in 1965, Coltrane’s A Love Supreme was created at the height of the Civil Right’s movement –– 1964 was the year that the Civil Rights Act was passed. In addition, at this point in his life Coltrane had finally overcome his long struggle with heroin addiction. In the liner notes of the album, Coltrane writes: "During the year 1957, I experienced, by the grace of God, a spiritual awakening which was to lead me to a richer, fuller, more productive life." The background of this album is almost identical to that of Sonny’s story in, “Sonny’s Blues” which was also published during the Civil Rights movement in 1957. The even more identical similarity is that the center point of Sonny’s conflict was his struggle with his heroin addiction. Ironically, both musicians' battles with addiction proves to play an integral role in the beauty of their art.

A Love Supreme is broken up into four separate parts titled “Acknowledgement,” “Resolution,” “Pursuance,” and “Psalm.” each track representing a different stage of his rebirth and spiritual quest. The first track, “Acknowledgement,” mimics the first song performed by Sonny. It is nervous and scattered. One might imagine that, like Sonny, Coltrane’s “face [is] troubled, he was working hard” (Baldwin). His saxophone screams spontaneous riffs –– “stammered, started one way, got scared, stopped; started another way, panicked, marked time, started again” (Baldwin). Coltrane is a bit staccato in contrast with the rest of his band –– “[He] wasn't with it” (Baldwin). Baldwin also emphasizes this rhythm with his stop and go sentence structure. Eventually, the audience of A Love Supreme is introduced to the four note theme that evolves into the famous chant: “a love supreme.” The mantra is repeated throughout the rest of the song and eventually gives way to a more melodically driven track titled, “Resolution.” This is similar to the way that Creole initiates the melodic song by Ray Charles, “Am I Blue? And, as though he commanded, Sonny [begins] to play” (Baldwin). Both Coltrane and Sonny are encouraged by their band members to really take control of their instruments. This is in part, for both of them, a powerful stance against their heroin addictions. As Sonny describes earlier on in the story, “‘[W]hen [heroin is] in your veins. It makes you feel sort of warm and cool at the same time…It makes you feel—in control. Sometimes you've got to have that feeling'” to create music (Baldwin). But in both cases, they are able to garner this musical strength without vice. 

Coltrane's next track, “Resolution,” begins with a determined bass-line, which is quickly accompanied by regimented drums, a powerful piano section, and a strong melody. Coltrane’s control over his saxophone is evident. Like Sonny and his piano, “he [seems] to have found, right there beneath his fingers, a damn brand-new [saxophone]” (Baldwin). 

The third track is titled, “Pursuance.” Here, Coltrane seems to fully express himself. The song begins with drums, but after about a minute and a half, Coltrane begins his solo. His saxophone is optimistic and full of life. It is focused, and so is the rest of the band. The drums, bass, and piano all progress in linear movement. Coltrane’s solo on “Pursuance” is the most expressive and intense of any other solos on the album –– This might be compared to Sonny’s piano solo. Coltrane’s solo is strong and full –– His band members, like Sonny’s, “[seem] to say, amen” (Baldwin). The audience can feel the release of Coltrane’s emotion through every powerful note. Similarly, the narrater observes that, “Sonny's fingers filled the air with life, his life” (Baldwin). When his solo ends, Coltrane quietly pants through his saxophone –– he seems to be out of breath like Creole and Sonny who “let out their breath, both soaking wet, and grinning” (Baldwin).  

In both Coltrane’s A Love Supreme and, “Sonny’s Blues,” the relationship between all the band players is extremely important. Before the debut of A Love Supreme, Coltrane had been kicked out of bands due to his heroin addiction. Before playing at the nightclub in front of his brother, Sonny’s fraternal relationship had been strained. An integral part of jazz is the chemistry between the different band members. Baldwin emphasizes this through his description of Sonny’s performance –– Creole “reminds,” “answers,” and “tells” his band members. This language used by Baldwin perfectly communicates the closeness of jazz music to an intimate conversation. Both musicians use the support of the jazz community –– and jazz music –– to persevere. Like Coltrane writes in his liner notes, both musicians "entered into a phase which was contradictory to the pledge and away from the esteemed path; but thankfully, now and again through the unerring and merciful hand of God, [they] perceive and have been duly re-informed" by the community and spirituality of jazz music. 

Works Cited

“A Love Supreme.” aln2.Albumlinernotes, aln2.albumlinernotes.com/A_Love_Supreme.html.

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Majid Firoozi

ENL-10C

5-14-18

Sonny’s Blues and Kanye West

            Suffering and self reflection are the two most consistent themes in both Sonny’s music and the story itself. “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin tells the story of a struggling unnamed narrator as he tackles with his surroundings and self conscious. He has a brother named Sonny who was persecuted for using and selling heroine. The duration of the story is filled with the narrator facing numerous life altering obstacles, but the moment when his daughter unexpectedly dies suddenly drives him to reach out to Sonny. Upon their reunion, the narrator already has a bit of thick skin built up towards Sonny as he discredits nearly everything he tells him. After all, Sonny had just been released from prison and the narrator is living a stable life as an algebra teacher, so why listen? They live in a struggle dominated community that the narrator hadn’t fully recognized since he had taken the unconventional route and pursued a better life. But it is not until Sonny performs for the narrator when he finally is able to recognize his own struggles and the suffering he and his family have endured throughout time. We as readers are finally able to recognize the narrator's internal struggles and self realization as he listens to Sonny’s Blues. With this being said, I will compare this idea of suffering and self reflection with Kanye West’s song, “Roses”. In this song, Kanye reflects on the death of his grandmother as well as the financial disadvantage he and his family faced when he was in his youth. Throughout the duration of her treatment he touches on the struggles and hardships he and his family endured which is exactly what Sonny emphasized in his music as well. Both of these songs contain very thought provoking and self reflective qualities and as I consider the lyrics and overall motifs of these songs it will become more apparent that both these artists are trying to convey a similar message. 

            At first, the narrator didn’t consider anything that Sonny had to say upon their reunion. Sonny touched on the battle he had with drugs and how his way of coping with the difficulties embedded in their community was to shoot up heroin, but the narrator remained deaf to what he had to say. He felt that since he was able to escape these circumstances and maintain a job, Sonny had no room to be sympathized with. The narrator has completely neglected his families suffering and what they had endured until Sonny’s blues began to play and he was given an instant sense of clarity. Since there is no lyrics presented in the story we weren’t able to know exactly what Sonny was singing about, but the narrator's observations reveal everything there is to know about this final scene and his reaction goes as follows, “Yet, there was no battle in his face now, I heard what he had gone through, and would continue to go through until he came to rest in Earth. He made it his: that long line, of which we knew only Mama and Daddy. And he was giving back, as everything must be given back, so that, passing through death, it can live forever. I saw my mother’s face again, and felt, for the first time, how the stones of the road she had walked on must have bruised her feet” (Baldwin, 21). As you can tell by the narrator's reaction, he was able to finally see the struggles that his brother has gone through and was able to take that and think about his own heritage. His mother is seen as a very powerful figure in this instance as he understands the difficulties that she faced as well. All in all, there was a numbness that the narrator felt towards his family because he was on the opposite side of the spectrum. The way that Sonny’s music was able to derive such a internal self reflection signifies the influence of his blues towards the narrator. With this being said, I will make a comparison to Kanye West’s song “Roses” that possesses a very similar purpose. 

            Very similar to the upbringing of Sonny and the Narrator, Kanye West grew up in an impoverished neighborhood in Atlanta, Georgia. Being as famous as he is today, he has been able to live through two very different lifestyles as his early years weren’t filled with the luxuries he is now so accustomed to. In his song “Roses”, Kanye touches on the suffering and the financial troubles that his family had to face all while mourning the death of his grandmother. At first glimpse the song appears to simply be a tribute to his grandmother, but with further inspection the song undoubtedly contains deeper more thought provoking ideas. One of the most poignant verses in the song that reveals how Kanye was trying bring light to the struggle that African Americans face in these inter cities of Atlanta goes as follows, “What do you say this time? Remember when I was 9? Tell her everything gon’ be fine, but I be lyin’, Her family cryin’, they want her to live, and she trying’. I'm arguin’ like what kind of doctor can we fly in? You know the best medicine go to the people that’s paid”. This verse stands out to me because it not only touches on the struggle that he has faced, but the financial struggles that his family endured as his grandmother was in critical condition. This fundamental issue that he emphasizes allows the listeners to reflect on the things that he take for granted such as healthcare and how it isn’t accessible for everyone. The duration of the song touches on the struggles and obstacles that his family had faced but this verse, the one concerning his grandmother and her treatment, is perhaps the steepest challenge he faced in his younger years. To be able to sit back and listen what he had gone through and then self reflect on the obstacles that you and your family members have faced, essentially is the purpose of this song. He shares his story and this enables his listeners to ponder upon their own unique stories as well. 

            All in all, the motives and purpose behind both of these songs appear to be the same. Their stories contain a very thought provoking quality that makes its listeners deeply think about their own upbringing. From the Narrator’s reaction in Sonny’s Blues to the way that Kanye portrayed a similar message concerning his struggles, we as listeners and readers are able to recognize the strong influences these songs possess which will make you think about your own life and heritage as well. 

A Good Man is Hard to find rewrite. The Misfits perspective.

“Bobby Lee! You couldn’t wait for me to get his shirt off before you shot him?!” I [The Misfit] sternly exclaimed and slowly turned my head towards Bobby Lee.

“Sorry you told me to take care of him” Bobby Lee responded.

He’s right, I should know by now he is as simple as they come, but that’s what I like about him. “Well lets get a move on, put the man with the others and make sure to bury our old clothes with em” Stretching my feet, I feel the newly claimed shoes tighten and constrain. These pants are too tight, but they are better than those awful prison jumpsuits. Turning from Bobby Lee and Hiram, who are drudging into the forest, my eyes start following the road that snakes down and around the hill. Suddenly, I spot a cloud of dust following a car headed in our direction. “Wonderful, must be former friends of our gracious hosts.” Just as suddenly as they appeared the car flips and quickly rolls to a stop. I shout, “And that’s our cue. Alright boys, ready or not here we come”, and start the engine…

As we pull up I can see clearly what happened, just some lost family who picked the wrong road to follow. I pity their luck but then again, I wasn’t the one who brought them hear. “Alright, you know the plan. Don’t say a word, I’ll do all the talking. I want Bobby on the right and Hiram on the left. Make sure the kids don’t scramble. You know how feel about kids.”

“We know boss” they respond in unison.

“Let’s make this quick. This time make sure to get his shirt off of him before you kill him.” I turn and make direct eye contact with Bobby Lee. He forfeits his gaze and examines his lap. “Let’s go”. As soon as I state this, the creak of the car door opening emphasizes my order. Grabbing my hat and gun, I slowly exit the car. And just as I instructed Bobby and Hiram begin to surround the family.

“We’ve had an ACCIDENT” the children screamed.

An awful sound, children. How they always tend to complicate things.

“Good afternoon, I see you all had you a little spill”. Funny, I can see that the oldy lady knows she recognizes me from somewhere. You can see it on her puzzled face. Let’s see if she can figure it before I give her any new clues.

“We turned over twice!” said the grandmother.

“Once” Ah and she dramatizes, don’t think that will save you. “We seen it happen. Try their car and see will it run, Hiram”. Nodding, Hiram can get anything running. Maybe it’ll be better than the hunk of junk we relieved from its previous owners.

“What you got that gun for?” the boy asks “Whatcha gonna do with that gun?”

God how children complicate things, something in their innocence always allows them to ask the questions that adults are just too scared to. “Lady, would you mind calling them children to sit down by you? Children make me nervous. I want all you all to sit down right together there where you’re at.” Lets just make sure they don’t scramble because I don’t want to spend all afternoon searching every little hole. Nodding to Bobby Lee, he reassures me he has them under control.

“What are you telling US what to do for?” the little girl exclaims.

A sense of irritation rises. That same sense of questioning again. Their innocence leaves an absence of inherent authority. It gives them the power to question when most would understand who is in control.

“Come here!” the mother cries and the children follow.

Good, some sense of authority has been installed in these animals.

“Look here now, we’re in a predicament!” the man claims with a shaky sense of shock “We’re in…’

The Grandmother jumps up in a panic, “You’re the Misfit! I recognize you at once!”

Haha how my reputation precedes me, smiling coyly. They must be doing a better job of looking for me. “Yes’m, but it would have been better for all of you, lady, if you hadn’t of reckernized me”

The man abruptly turns to the old lady and screams profanity at her.

“Lady, don’t you get you upset. Sometimes a man says things he don’t mean.” Just like my previous claim of safety, you were dead as soon as you turned down this road. “I don’t reckon he meant to talk to you thataway”

“You wouldn’t shoot a lady, would you?” Quickly pulling a handkerchief to dry her impending tears.

I slowly place the butt of my rifle on the ground while pondering this question. It wouldn’t be the first and probably won’t be the last but what choice does anyone really have, “I would hate to have to”.

“Listen” the old lady cries, “I know youre a good man. You don’t look a bit like you have com- mon blood. I know you must come from nice people!”

Nice people huh? Quite the impression. Ma and Pa would be so proud. “Yes mam, finest people in the world. God never made a finer woman than my mother and my daddy’s heart was pure as gold.” Ma probably would have appreciated the kind words. But unfortunately, lady that’s the most you people will ever know of them and anyone else after this encounter. “Watch them children, Bobby Lee, you know they make me nervous”. Realizing how rehearsed that response was, I struggle to think of what to say next. That my father was a bastard and my mother his whore of a servant. Quickly turning my head up, “Aint a cloud in the sky, don’t see no sun but don’t see no cloud either”.

“Yes, it’s a beautiful day, listen, you shouldn’t call yourself The Misfit because I know youre a good man at heart. I can just look at you and tell”.

Wow lady you really have no idea how clueless you are.

“Hush” the man cries “Hush! Everybody shut up and let me handle this!”

There is a kind of innocence to her, she cant really believe that “I prechate that, lady”. But you couldn’t be more wrong.

"A Good Man is Hard to Find," Misfit Perspective

   Hiram, Bobby Lee and I were making our escape across the red dirt road in the middle of nowhere when we saw something interesting. There was a car, strange enough, as cars never went by this area, but more than that, it went toppling over in a grand fashion. I slowed as we neared the area. The inhabitants — a family of five and an old woman, were resting in a ditch near the side of the road, the car busted a great deal. They looked harmless, and as we were surrounded by dense woods with our guns I figured we might as well check it out. As we got closer we could hear the children squealing with excitement. “We’ve had an ACCIDENT!”

    I stepped closer, eyeing them all carefully. None of them looked at all remarkable, cept for the old woman. She didn’t seem as anchored in the moment as the others, and had a daintiness to her that reminded me of someone I once knew, who I seldom liked to think about. I don’t do too much reminiscing with all the running around I do. “Good afternoon,” I said as I settled down in the ditch with them. “I see you all had you a little spill.” The old lady responded saying they’d flipped over twice, a lie, which I quickly corrected. Then their little boy asked me about my gun. Something in his curiosity and enthusiasm stirred up an old uneasiness within me, and I told the mother to gather her children next to her.

    The father started to explain how they were in some kind of predicament. It didn’t particularly interest me, so I was glad when the old woman stood up in horror. “You’re The Misfit!” she shouted. “I recognized you at once!” It felt good to be recognized, although in my state, it also meant these people had to die. Ain’t no way I’d let them tell people what they’d seen. The father got all angry when I admitted it was too bad the old woman identified me, and said something quite awful to her even I would of hesitated to say. I’m not too sure why, but I felt sorry for her, and tried to offer her some comfort as she cried. She only responded “You wouldn’t shoot a lady, would you?” I would, but not yet

     Anyhow, she went off saying she knew I came from good people and was a good man at heart. Course, I knew all of that already, but it was still nice to hear, and I couldn’t help but mention my folks. I hadn’t thought of them in a long while, and the more I thought about them, and what lead up to that moment, I realized that I wasn’t a good man, and I didn’t want to be one. I used to think of myself as one, but I still ended up there anyway. It didn’t really matter, so what was the use of it all anyway?

      I had Bobby Lee take the dad and his son over to the woods and shoot ‘em. The grandmother didn’t really like that, and went hollering about praying and Jesus or something. I told her all the places I’d been, all the things I’d done. Jesus hadn’t been there with me for all that, but that was okay. I was getting along just fine. I didn’t need him. I didn’t need anybody. All I needed was to keep running and be free from the world that always got me wrong. They said they had the papers to prove me wrong, that I’d never been a good man, that I’d done something terrible. But I’d never seen them, so I didn’t believe it. “I call myself the Misfit,” I told the old woman, “because I can’t make what all I done wrong fit with all I gone through in punishment.” By that point it was just the old lady left. I heard the screams of the other girls from the woods. “Does it seem right to you, lady, that one is punished a heap and another ain’t punished at all?”

     She blabbered again on how I had good blood and wouldn’t shoot a lady. She said she’d give over all the money she had, but I didn’t want it. She tried a last time to save herself, shouting, “Why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children!” and reached for my shoulder. I jumped back and shot her through the chest. She was delusional. She would’ve pulled me in with her if I hadn’t shot her. She had to die.

     “She would of been a good woman,” I told Bobby Lee later, “if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.”

     “Some fun!” he said.

     “Shut up, Bobby Lee. It’s no real pleasure in life.”

Prompt #3: "Sonny's Blues" & "Waltz for Debby"

In James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues,” jazz music serves as a sort of release for Sonny and other members of the African-American community. Jazz music was (and still is) a form of expression that sought to expose and uncover underlying pain and struggles, especially within the black community. Along with serving as a form of expression, jazz also had the ability to powerfully affect its audience, and make them feel something. The power of jazz is perfectly reflected at the end of “Sonny’s Blues” when the narrator goes to watch his brother play piano at at a local club. Here, the narrator finally understands the complexity of jazz, and how it can be joyful, yet riddled with sorrow at the same time. One jazz song that would perfectly embody the piece Sonny and his friends play towards the end of the story would be “Waltz for Debby” by Bill Evans. This instrumental jazz song exemplifies the unstructured nature of jazz and, just like Sonny’s music, beautifully evokes various emotions within the listener.

From a musical standpoint, Evans’ “Waltz for Debby” strongly resembles the type of song that Sonny and his friends would be playing at the club. The instruments that Evans’ uses are very similar to the ones that Sonny and his friends use. “Waltz for Debby” contains three main instruments: the drums, the bass fiddle, and, of course, the piano (played by Paul Motian, Scott LaFaro, and Bill Evans, respectively). Baldwin describes how the “dry, low, black man said something awful on the drums,” how Creole played his bass fiddle in a way that was “driving, beautiful and calm and old,” and finally how Sonny “filled the air with life” through the piano (20-21). Baldwin’s descriptions of the instruments align with Evans’ song fairly well. Like Sonny, Evans begins his piano playing in a very “tamed” way (0:00-1:09), and it takes him time to finally get into the full swing of things. This explosion of passion is similar to when Sonny began to play from his heart and Creole “let out the reins,” allowing the band to express themselves fully. Both Evans and Sonny allow themselves to be fully immersed in the music, and only then can they truly communicate their thoughts and feelings through the piano keys. And just like Sonny, Evans’s instrument is the focal point of this musical arrangement, and is used to evoke emotion and convey meaning.

Furthermore, another reason why “Waltz for Debby” is a perfect representation of “Sonny’s song” is because it communicates without words, and affects its listeners. In “Sonny’s Blues,” the narrator finally understands the importance of music once he truly listens to it. He comes to the conclusion that music (jazz in specific) “could help us to be free if we would listen” and that we “would never be free until we did” (21). The narrator finally understands that jazz is a way of expressing joy, and suffering. He begins to understand that there is more than one way to suffer, and more than one way to express that suffering. In this moment, the narrator realizes that perhaps music is not harming Sonny, but rather giving him a way to let out all his hurt in an artistic way. Likewise, Evans’ music also affects the listener, and makes them feel a certain way. The beginning of the song is somewhat slow, and it has a sorrowful tone to it (0:00-0:23). This makes the listener (or at least me) feel sad and gloomy; however, the tempo of the music soon speeds up (at around 1:10) and the song soon turns into a unstructured, beautiful arrangement of musical instruments that make the listener experience joy and sadness at the same time. The gentle beauty of the keys mixed with the coarse background instruments create a piece of art that can be heard in many ways. The complexity of Evans’ music perfectly coincides with the intricacy of “Sonny’s Blues.”

After doing a far amount of research on jazz music, I thought it was interesting to note that jazz music is not only exclusive to the African-American community. Of course historically, jazz originated in primarily black communities and was fueled by the need to express the ache and struggle of being an African-American in the 19th and 20th centuries. However, Bill Evans was a white man who used jazz to express emotion and meaning, and it interesting to analyze how jazz, and music in general, was (is) used as an instrument to convey pain and happiness. While Sonny’s music reflected the African-American struggle, and his own struggle with drugs, Evans’ music reflected the struggle of other racial groups. These struggles may not be as big or miserable, but they still do exist. 
LINK TO VIDEO/SONG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH3GSrCmzC8

The Destruction of the Elitism South By the Rise of a New Society

During the period of the 1940s, the South underwent a struggle to define itself; forced to choose between a future as a society stemmed within elitism, or one that was aimed to destroy the current aristocratic foundation. Within Tennessee William’s A Streetcar Named Desire, the themes of race, class, and immigration all collide within a time where the South struggled to truly define itself. Through the characters of Stanley and Blanche, Williams demonstrates how Blanche’s resistance to Stanley emulates the conquest and demise of the traditional South among the infringing rise immigration and settlement of those considered to be of an outside, lesser ethnicity.

Between the interactions of the two characters, William argues of how the elite Aryan South unsuccessfully attempts to repel against the new outside race of immigrants who threaten the South’s current identity. Upon immediately meeting, Blanche despises all the things that Stanley himself represents, and the threat that his own race and class pose to the status of herself and her sister. This opposition is even referred to as the direct cause of Blanche losing her beloved Belle Reve, and the beginning her degradation in class and the status of her own race. As she yells to Stella, “I let the place go? Where were you-In bed with your Polack!” (Williams. Scene 1).  Williams uses the opposition between Blanche, a generational descent of the wealthy class and Stanley, a poor descendant of recent immigrants, to demonstrate how the rise of a modern “melting pot” America slowly diminishes the value of the traditional South. Blanche states very bluntly her opinion of Stanley by calling him the degrading term of a Polack. This effectively places Stanley within a lower status to that of Blanche purely because of his Polish ethnicity, one that Blanche views a impoverished and dirty, opposite of her own French wealth and aristocracy. Furthermore, race is not only characterized through Blanche’s own words, but also Blanche’s thought about Stella’s marriage shows her belief of an inferior race threatening her own lifestyle. By insinuating that the loss of Belle Reve, the DuBois’ beloved mansion, was completely avoidable by Stella having not have been occupied and sleeping with her Polish husband, Blanche believes that her own elite status of her race and the traditional South of which it represents is deteriorated by even the most simple interactions with those of the inferior race.  As a result, in the eyes of Blanche, Stella has betrayed her own French roots and the traditional South through the fulfillment of her wifely duties to a husband of lower status, affirming the Williams’ claim of how immigration allows for the once inferior race to dominate the formerly superior, threatening the structure of traditional society.

       While Williams uses the opposing perceptions that both Blanche and Stanley have of each other to prove how one race effectively threatens another, it is also Stanley’s rape of Blanche which affirms Williams’ claim about immigration destroying the superior elitism of the South. Williams demonstrates through Blanche’s vulnerability how the invasion of new Eastern European race, opposite to Blanche’s own,  and the rise of immigration threaten the livelihood of the elite Southern society. As Williams writes, “[He springs toward her, overturning the table. She cries out and strikes at him with the bottle top but he catches her wrist.] (Williams. Scene 10). Stanley’s physical power over Blanche not only represents the power of gender within the play, but Williams also uses this interaction as a physical demonstration to show the abstract dominance that one ethnic group is beginning to display over another within the South during the 1940s. Following the Civil War, the elite society in which people such as Blanche and Stella lived in was becoming extinct to the rise of integration and immigration. This is evident with the actions between Stanley and Blanche leading up to the rape, as William details how “[She moans. The bottle top falls. She sinks to her knees. He picks up her inert figure and carries her to the bed]” (Williams. Scene 10).  For no matter how much she fights back against Stanley, Blanche is not able to protect herself. Williams’s uses this vulnerability to show how self identified prestigious race cannot defend against the intrusion of other races that are considered inferior. According to Williams, Stanley’s physical rape of Blanche represents much more than just a volatile act; it is the domination and suppression of the elite South, with a new race and class coming to define the South as that of their own.