Ty's essay

Ty LeVarge
English 02
Mr. Salsich
April 15, 2009

A Figure From the Past:
An Essay on "The Little Brother Poem" and "Sonny’s Blues"

In "The Little Brother Poem" by Naomi Shihab Nye, she describes how her bother has become older and she doesn’t see him anymore. To her, the brother she once knew had grown up to be less dependent and playful with her. The same happened in "Sonny’s Blues" when Sonny became dependant on drugs and lost the older brother he knew. Both tales are very similar because they both have to do with a brother that has changed dramatically and lost touch with their sibling.

In her poem, Ms. Nye uses a lot of figurative language to express the feelings she had while writing the poem. One way that she utilizes figurative language is describing how her brother grew up and eventually went on with his life. She describes her brother as if he were a young child who would play with their older sibling and collect treasures on their adventures. “I take your old camping jug, poke my finger through the rusted hole in the bottom” which says that she and her brother had fond memories with the jug. Aside from the jug she finds, she finds other mementos of when they were younger. She also has memories, such as the time she injured her brother by pushing her brother in front of a passing bicycle. Even though they have gone through the good and the bad, they are still brother and sister and still love each other as family. She also tells of how her brother was playful and cheerful every time she saw him. Ever since her brother moved out of the house, she misses the toy cars running up her arms and the smile she had loved to see every day. Ms. Nye describes the memories of her brother in a creative and interesting way.

In "Sonny’s Blues", Sonny is the older brother of the main character and Sonny finds himself lost in drugs. In Sonny’s Blues, while the character is listening to Gracie play reminds him of how he and Sonny used to when they were younger. “Sitting in the living room, in the dark, by myself, and I suddenly thought of Sonny” this reminds him of how he and Sonny were when they were young. Sonny and his brother shared good times together until Sonny became lost in drugs. At the end of the story, Sonny and some of his friends started playing at a club and Sonny was able to release his blues. “Sonny's fingers filled the air with life, his life” explains that he releases his lifelong sorrows. This is when the main character remembers the brother he once knew. Both pieces of writing have to do with the knowledge of the brother that was in the past and the acceptance of the brother he is now. In "Sonny’s Blues", Sonny is able to release his sorrow with music and his brother sees him not as someone under the influence of drugs, but as the true person he is. In Ms. Nye’s poem, she accepts the fact that her brother has grown up and moved on from his younger life. Both pieces are very similar even though they have different settings.

Both "Sonny’s Blues" and "The Little Brother Poem" are great examples of a point where someone remembers a brother from the past. They both are about the realization of their past brothers and how they meant to the main narrators. I like how these two pieces tell a story about the brother of the author. These two stories are interesting stories and they tell a very interesting lesson, to not let your siblings disappear as they grow up.