In the world of Harlem, New York, the cruelties of the world become incandescent. James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues" addresses the disturbing power of pain in a world where one's coping skills dictate the course of one's life. The story describes a person's options to ignore the pain, create a reason for the pain, or accept the pain and live with it. Baldwin explains the theme of ever-present pain and parents' attempt to protect children from it through the characters. Their reaction to pain builds a motive for pain management. In order to allow children to remain innocent of the world's mistreatment for as long as possible, adults do not talk about these realities in the presence of children. Baldwin constructs a scenario in which adults attempt to hide the dark wisdom of a child. “The darkness outside is what the old people talk about. That’s what they came from. This is what they endure. The child knows that they will no longer speak because if he knows too much about what happened to them, he will know too much, too soon, about what will happen to him” (34). Although it is legitimate to protect children from the cruelties of the world and to lead them to ignore reality, adults do a disservice to children, who are oblivious to the challenges and trials that await them. Even if adults do not draw the child's attention to the challenges and trials that await him, this does not mean that the cruelties can be ignored. Just not talking about something doesn't make it go away. As Baldwin develops the scenario, he preludes the inevitable: all good things must eventually come to an end. In the child's case, his early years of life can be shielded from the nastiness of reality, but ultimately...... middle of paper ...... he proves a viable point, but it is his older brother who represents wisdom. Thanks to his different approach to suffering, the older brother somehow escapes additional suffering, because he does not let himself believe that his pain is unique. As when his daughter Gracie dies, “[his] problems made [Sonny’s] problems real” (42). Everyone is a victim of pain; it's part of life. Baldwin sends a message to readers about pain: no one is exempt from its presence. His short story tells how a person's management of this pain influences their existence. The way they deal with it can make their life more difficult, more painful, or the way they deal with it can make their life not necessarily comfortable, but livable; tolerating pain is a pact with life. Work Cited Baldwin, James. “Sonny’s Blues.” The art of the short story. New York: Pearson Longman, 2006.