Sonny’s Blues

by

James Baldwin

Sonny’s Blues: Allusions 1 key example

Definition of Allusion
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals, historical events, or philosophical ideas... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to... read full definition
Allusions
Explanation and Analysis—Cup of Trembling:

In the final lines of the story, Baldwin includes a biblical allusion to the “cup of trembling,” as seen in the following passage:

I saw the girl put a Scotch and milk on top of the piano for Sonny. He didn’t seem to notice it, but just before they started playing again, he sipped from it and looked toward me, and nodded. Then he put it back on top of the piano. For me, then, as they began to play again, it glowed and shook above my brother’s head like the very cup of trembling.

In this passage, the narrator describes how the server at the jazz club where Sonny is playing places a drink for Sonny (ordered by the narrator) on top of his piano, but Sonny doesn’t seem to notice it. Eventually, Sonny nods at the narrator in acknowledgement of this gift and, after this small act, the narrator experiences the drink as looking like “the very cup of trembling” that is mentioned in the Book of Isaiah in the Bible. In it, God says, “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.” In this way, the “cup of trembling” becomes a stand-in for suffering more broadly and is, the Bible suggests, something that God can easily take away.

This allusion is significant because it implies that there is hope for the brothers' suffering to be taken away, and that it is through their connection with each other that they can attain such relief. This has already proven to be true—Sonny is safe and sober because the narrator has taken him into his home, and the narrator is finally feeling the full weight of the grief that he has suppressed for decades while listening to Sonny's piano-playing.