So maybe Sonny will always be dealing with the "blues." Or maybe there's a whole other way to read the ending that we haven't even thought of. But it's important to be open to other interpretations too (and we think that's what's pretty awesome about literature anyway). We'd probably all like to think that Sonny really does recover, that he's able to face down his "blues," and the text definitely supports this interpretation. And they both agree that there is an almost inescapable amount of suffering in the world. Is it possible that Sonny's shaky performance in the club suggests that he is still shaky in other parts of his life as well? Is it possible that this single moment at the end of the story is just that – a moment? Will Sonny go back to using drugs? After all, he does tell the narrator that deep down he's still the same person, haunted by the same demons, and that Harlem is still the same rough place that turned him to drugs in the first place. Perhaps Sonny has redeemed himself.īut with any good story (and we think this is one), there's more than one way to read the ending. Perhaps his brother has truly forgiven him for screwing up his life and for causing their family so much pain. Perhaps Sonny has finally been able to conquer his addiction. The Great Gatsby ending quote sums up the central theme of the novel in a single succinct sentence. 'Listen, Robert, going to another country doesnt make any difference. 'You are all a lost generation.' 'I rather liked him and evidently she led him quite a life.' 'Nobody ever lives their life all the way up except bull-fighters.'. Some even liken Sonny to the Prodigal Son in the Bible, who leaves his home and squanders his life but finally returns and redeems himself after seeing the error of his ways. Quotes From the Epigraph Through Chapter Five of The Sun Also Rises. For this reason literary critics often read the ending of "Sonny's Blues" as a symbol of Sonny's redemption. Scholars and critics tend to interpret this passage as God's expression of forgiveness and humankind's opportunity for redemption – God has essentially removed the temptation that initially created his anger. Thus saith thy Lord the Lord, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury thou shalt no more drink it again. The "cup of trembling" is a biblical reference from the Book of Isaiah 51:22 (the actual quote from the King James Bible is: This creates a striking image for the narrator: "For me, then, as they began to play again, it glowed and shook above my brother's head like the very cup of trembling" (239). As a gesture of this new understanding, the narrator sends Sonny a drink, which he places above him on the piano as he plays.
It's something he has to have in his life in order to function. But more importantly, he also seems to see that music is a part of Sonny. At the very end of the story, the narrator has come to watch Sonny play piano at a nightclub, and it seems that he finally sees how talented his brother is.
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