2. “How An Author Expresses
Personal Pain Through
Literary Examples”
Group Members: Angela Corts, Eric Wilber, Brandi Henry,, and Tiffany Trapp

3. Who Experiences Pain?
- You and I
- Family Members
- Addicts
- Emotionally Distressed
What Causes Pain?
- Horrid Childhood
- Life Events
- Inflicted Pain
- Instigated Factors
Substance Abuse
Self-Destructive Relationships
Environment

4. SOCIALLY: In support groups, visual presence
PERSONALLY: Verbal and physical such as facial mannerisms; through the use of
expressions, body language, tears, presence of art: paintings, cinematography, drama, and
misery literature (poems, novels, short stories)

5. “The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we
are unable to say.”- Anais Nin
“You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.”-
Ray Bradbury
“Writing is both mask and unveiling.” – E.B. White
“Was it only by dreaming or writing that I could find out what I
thought?”- Joan Didion
“Being an author is having angels whisper in your ear- and devils,
too.” – Terri Guillemets

6. Reasons Why Authors Create Literary Pieces
To Tell A Story
A Form Of Expression
Purposely To Teach
To Entice The Imagination

7. Abusive Raised in a
poverty stricken
Father environment.
Homosexual Prejudice and
Acceptance Segregation

8.  James Baldwin was born on August 2, He became a young writer for his high
1924 in a poor and poverty-stricken school in the Bronx called DeWitt
Harlem, New York. He was raised by a Clinton. Due to financial family burdens,
single mother, Emma Berdis Jones with he pursued odd jobs and eventually
many siblings. His mother married a joined the U.S. Army. During this time
preacher named David Baldwin when frame, he experienced various acts of
James was 3 yrs. old. His step-father prejudice, such as being denied in
was abusive and in which influenced certain public establishments because he
him to join a church, which became his was an African American man in a
escape from a rough home life. At the segregated society.
age of 14, James became a Pentecostal
preacher.

11. Popular Writings:
 “Go Tell It On The Mountain” (1953)- literary work about the
painful struggles of being raised in the rough
neighborhood of Harlem City.
 “Giovanni’s Room” (1956)- focused on the struggles of
homosexual relationships.
 “The Fire Next Time” (1963)- about racial discrimination
and religious challenges.
“Sonny’s Blues” (1957)
- Inspired by life events of personal struggles and emotional pain.

12. The story begins as a narrative piece being told by the unnamed older brother of a
vulnerable character name Sonny. The narrator has just been notified of an unexpected
arrest of his little brother for drug possession. The narrator grieves and longs for the
innocence Sonny once had as a child.
His face had once been bright and open, there was a lot of copper in it; and he’d had
wonderfully direct brown eyes, and great gentleness and privacy (58).
While Sonny is in prison, the narrator receives a letter where Sonny states the desperation to
hear from his brother. He writes, “I feel like a man who’s been trying to climb up out of some
deep, real deep funky hole and just saw the sun up there, outside” (61). He also tries to
explain how fear got the best of him to end up in prison.

15. Poor, dirty, harsh surroundings was
a background for developing
emotional neglect, disappointment,
and failure.
Harlem helped mold the brothers
into who they became; Sonny as a
self-destructive and troubled
individual; Narrator (brother)
developed self-motivation to leave
the horrible surroundings.
A reflection of the environment
James Baldwin was raised in.

16. In the 1950s, the civil rights movement was in full force. Being an
African American male, James Baldwin was easily exposed to the
inequality and mistreatment for being a minority. He experienced first
hand harsh treatment of social neglect and racism.
James Baldwin hints the presence of racism and the down fall it can
cause in “Sonny’s Blues.” He uses Sonny’s father as an example with
creating a fictional death of a family member, instigated by prejudice
and an act of a hate crime.
Till the day he died, he wasn’t sure but that every white man he saw was the
man that killed his brother (66).
The reflection of anger and hatred, ignited by prejudice and the
presence of racism is very present in his literary work.

17. Failure- Sonny’s brother feels like he failed his mother for not keeping
the promise of being Sonny’s protector.
Disappointment- Sonny’s brother hints disappointment in himself for
not being a present brother Sonny should have. He also is
disappointed in Sonny for leading the life he chose.
Abandonment- Sonny feels alone and deserted by his brother in a
dark world full of self-suffering.
These examples are reflections of the author’s emotional turmoil of his
views of a segregated America and “the struggle for human freedom”
(57). The mentioning of desertion reflects on how James Baldwin’s
biological father abandoned his family.

19. Portal To Contentment And True Happiness

22. “There isn’t any other tale to tell, it’s the only
light we’ve got in all this darkness” [79].
The narrator seems to come to terms with what has happened and
illustrated by this quote comes to an epiphany: that we make our
own inspiration by seeing things that inspire and motivate us.
Those same emotions that he wholeheartedly felt can be used as
fuel to get through even the toughest times. In this sense the
darkness fades and the emotions that once accompanied dark
times are channeled into motivation to not stop and to not accept
emotional defeat.