The representation of race in Sonny's Blues by James Baldwin and The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif KureishiThe journey undertaken by the narrator (and his older brother) in Sonny's Blues may be short in literary terms, but is considered one of the most tender and thought-provoking pieces of modern fiction. Indirect comparisons between life and music are rich in many paragraphs and pages and remain quietly present throughout the story, even when less obvious. Jazz as a genre is undeniably unpredictable and often misunderstood. The jazz Sonny listened to, played, and loved is used as a colorful metaphor throughout the story. The examples are endless. One of the crucial frustrations was the almost unbearable frustration the narrator felt looking at Sonny's life from the outside. He saw a chaotic, capricious mess when he looked at the life his younger brother lived; much like the erratic, confusing disarray he heard when he heard Jazz. Although Sonny was aware of the harmful direction his life was taking, he chose to continue making music with beats and rhythms that his brother did not understand. The narrator compared all the angles and directions of Sonny's choices in relation to each other; the drugs, the music, the lack of reality in his preferences - he bonded with each other and initially distanced himself from his brother whom he still loved dearly, mainly because he didn't understand why a well-adjusted young man would choose to live a life to indicate that he was a character of the opposite. As the story grows and unfolds, we see a clear shift in emotional generosity and acceptance in the Narrator; he watches and listens to his brother, learning that his story is not as intractable as he once thought. It can still be a little confusing for him, but he has learned to see the depth and courage in Sonny and that is reflected in/on the last page. when an almost identical journey is taken in the few minutes the narrator sees his blood playing his music, his life, "He didn't notice it, but just before he started playing again, he took a sip and looked towards me. Then he put it back on the piano. For me then, as they began to play again, it shone and shook above my brother's head like the very cup of trembling. (Sonny's Blues.141). John M. Reilly writes: "It is firstly the theme of the individualist narrator's gradual discovery of the importance of his brother's life..