Compare/Contrast - Clean Well Lighted Place and Sonnys Blues

Conflicts Within and Amongst Protagonists A Clean Well-Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway and Sonnys Blues by James Baldwin are interestingly tied together with their protagonists. Both are faced with various obstacles in their lives which are the main focus of each story, however, neither of the stories are written in the perspective of the central character. Nor are the struggles they face ever mentioned outright; instead, they become more defined as each story progresses. The protagonist in A Clean Well-Lighted Place, an elderly man, seems to have a comfortable life, one that the character of a young waiter finds enviable in some ways, and yet, in the week prior to the setting of the story, he tried to commit suicide. In†¦show more content†¦The old mans response to his niece is similar to Sonnys response to his elder brother in that they detach themselves from them. The protagonists are misunderstood by their own family members and interestingly react the same way to th is conflict. The elderly man and Sonny are understood even less by society than they are by their family members making them both outcasts of society. Their beliefs and actions go against the norm and the comfort level of the people they encounter, making them both misunderstood by those around them. Thus, both characters face a struggle between their own beliefs and what society wants them to conform to. Sonny grew up in Harlem where the societal norm for most of Harlems youth was to drop out of school at a young age, join local gangs, and to turn to drugs and alcohol. This destructive cycle was described by Sonnys elder brother in the following passage the boysÂ…found themselves smothering in these houses, came down into the streets for light and air and found themselves encircled by disaster. Some escaped the trap, most didnt(Baldwin, 416). Sonny escapes the trap by playing jazz piano, breaking free of the cookie cutter mold. Similarly, the elderly man in A Clean Well-Ligh ted Place does not do the things society expects