A compare and contrast paper on two books – James Baldwin’s Sonny’s Blues and Aldous Huxley’s `Brave New World`.
James Baldwin’s short story Sonny’s Blues and Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World are greatly dissimilar works at a first glance. The paper shows how they differ in setting, narrative, theme and plot, and seem to have very little in common. However after a deeper analysis the writer reveals that the two books share many important similarities in both theme and content.
On the surface, James Baldwin’s short story Sonny’s Blues and Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World could not be more dissimilar. Not only are their settings very different, but also the social conditions depicted in the two books are greatly different. Brave New World, one of the seminal works of science fiction, is set 600 years in the future, and depicts a utopian society. In contrast, Sonny’s Blues takes place in Harlem, New York in the 1960’s, and shows the struggles and conflicts of two African-American brothers.