The Significance of Art

The Significance of Art

Art plays a major role in how literature is perceived. Art defines a story and holds the character for much more value. A character that contains art has many styles to him or her. The characters that hold this significance seem to be the much more respected. In my essay I will discuss the characters Sonny and Robert, and their significance of art that they each hold. To show the significance of art in a character I will compare "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin and "Cathedral" by Raymond Carver.

In "Sonny's Blues" Sonny the main character stands out the most. He had so much passion in playing the piano even though he was caught in a heroin bust; he never gave up on life. Sonny shows the beauty in art as the character himself when he climbs over hard obstacles in his life, and still continues on to show people around him he is making someone out of himself. When Sonny skips school to go hang out with his Jazz friends, art is shown by him choosing the piano over school. The beauty of art in his music makes him want to practice more, and so therefore by skipping school he can continue. Baldwin comforts us because even though he is skipping school he is going to meet his Jazz friends, so it makes us consider that he is doing something good with his life through the art of music.

Sonny shows us the importance of black heritage and the meaning behind the music, and what it truly means to African American cultures. "Sometimes, you know, and it was actually when I was out of the world, I felt that I was in it, that I was with it, really, and I could play or I didn't really have to play, it just came out of me, it was there" (67 Baldwin).This line was said by Sonny to his brother after his show was over. This explains that Sonny loved music and he loved playing the piano. Even though Sonny was in and out of trouble he knew where his heart was, and he felt the music touch his soul. The art of music helped Sonny over come all the negative issues in his life. He took the time at the end of the show and found the beauty of music and how it helped him see his life in a better way.

The magnificence of art and having something touch Sonny in a personal way turned his life around for the better. This teaches that art can come in many different ways when you least expect it, and you might not notice it at that moment but time will tell the significance. Art made Sonny just that much more powerful, and it makes you open your eyes to the importance of the whole story and changes your whole viewpoint on the character. The view point changes from an ordinary character to an extraordinary, because the character has much more sense about themselves, which the others do not hold. The art of music brought Sonny to be the main important character and he became much more alive throughout the story, and art showed him how beautiful