The following quotation, which appears in an annotated bibliography and is in reference to an article by Susan Robbins entitled "Anguish and Anger" that appeared in the Virginia English Bulletin in 1986, demonstrates this fact.

Compares James Joyce's "Araby" and James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues" in relation to the theme, "Anger and anguish are the fires that burn away innocence…" (59). Sonny gains his freedom from anger and anguish through his music, through playing the blues, and his older brother comes to understand Sonny by listening to Sonny play the blues (Albert, 91)

The reference to anguish in this quotation is important because it demonstrates the feelings of hopelessness and despair that Sonny is enduring, and that others in his neighborhood and in all impoverished neighborhoods are enduring and attempting to overcome. The anger in this quotation is indicative of the type of reaction that Sonny has at the sense of...
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