In many cases, literary works portray real-life situations, be they physical, emotional, or mental issues. All human beings experience some form of suffering in their lives. Literary works use the theme of suffering to describe how people suffer in their own ways and how they react to their suffering. Authors such as James Baldwin and Ernest Hemingway use the theme of suffering to add realistic and dramatic situations to their stories to connect with readers. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In James Baldwin's short story "Sonny's Blues," the story is about a young jazz musician named Sonny who battles his heroin addiction. His story and his pain are explained to us from the point of view of his brother, who is the narrator. Early on we find out that Sonny has been arrested for drug use and dealing and then, when he is released from prison, he goes to live with the narrator and his family in Harlem, New York. Through the narrator's point of view, we can understand the different forms of suffering present in this story. Many of the characters in the story suffer in their own ways. Of course, the central issue in this piece is drug addiction, but issues of pain, poverty and limited opportunities in life are also evident. Some characters try to fight to escape the suffering while others accept the pain. Sonny suffers in different ways, but the most obvious one is his drug addiction. According to the narrator, Sonny started using heroin when he was just in high school. Currently, the narrator is a high school teacher. He says, “I was sure that the first time Sonny had [heroin], he couldn't have been any older than these kids are now” (265). Growing up in Harlem played a role in Sonny's beginning to use heroin: poverty is everywhere and there is an abundance of drugs. Sonny tried to escape the suffering he experienced due to poverty by leaving Harlem to pursue a music career, but he never escaped the hold drugs had on him. His inability to escape poverty during adolescence is what led him to drugs: he felt in control when he was using them. He couldn't control the situation of living in a place like Harlem, so he used heroin to cope. “…how heroin feels sometimes…warm and cool…it makes you feel…in control. Sometimes you have to have that feeling” (286). He goes on to tell his brother that heroin allowed him to endure the misery he suffered living in Harlem. He further explains how he felt like he was in control of his life when he was under the influence: “No, there's no way not to suffer. But you try all sorts of ways to avoid drowning in it, to keep up and to make it look – well, like you...” (287). He believed that the suffering he endured from heroin was only because he chose to suffer, as opposed to the suffering he endured living in Harlem which was not under his control. Sonny also suffered from being in prison and knowing he had hurt his family. After receiving a letter from his brother while he was in prison, Sonny wrote back to him saying, “You don't know how much I needed to hear from you. I wanted to write to you many times but I realized how much I must have hurt you and so I didn't write to you” (269). Prison was causing him emotional and mental distress, but he did not contact his brother because he suffered from the guilt of upsetting him with his drug addiction. The pain of knowing that you have disappointed himbrother influenced his decision not to reach out even though he needed family support when he was at his lowest point. In addition to Sonny, the narrator also suffers, but in a different way; suffers from pain. After finding out that Sonny had been arrested for drug use and dealing, the narrator was shocked. “A large block of ice settled in my belly and continued to slowly melt there throughout the day as I taught my algebra lessons. It was a special kind of ice… Sometimes it would harden and seem to expand until I felt like my insides were going to spill out or that I was going to suffocate or scream” (264). The narrator suffers in silence, unable to express his emotions. He doesn't break down, as if he knew that sooner or later this would happen because of his brother's situation. The narrator is angry: angry at what Harlem did to his brother, angry at what his brother continues to do to himself, and angry at everyone who knew Sonny before he left Harlem. He runs into someone who was an old friend of Sonny's. That old friend is also a drug addict. For a brief moment the man looked like Sonny to the narrator until he realized that it wasn't him but that he also reminded him of Sonny. The narrator feels a strong feeling of hatred towards Sonny's old friend because of how similar his situation is to Sonny's. The narrator talks to him about Sonny and what will happen to him after prison. When he is about to leave the man, the man asks for money and the narrator knows what he will use it for, so he feels understanding and compassionate. “Suddenly something inside gave way and threatened to come out of me. I didn't hate him anymore. I felt that at any moment I would start crying like a child” (268). She no longer hates the man but almost physically expresses her pain for him and Sonny and for what their lives have become. Seeing the man makes him remember his brother before he left Harlem. Another example of suffering in history that isn't really talked about is the suffering that kids growing up in Harlem have to endure. Their opportunities to try to escape the harsh life of Harlem are limited. The narrator compares their situation to his and Sonny's growing up in Harlem. “These kids, now, lived as we lived then, growing up quickly and banging their heads abruptly against the low ceiling of their actual possibilities” (265). Young people know that they don't have many chances to turn their lives around, to overcome the obstacles that prevent them from achieving success and to change the circumstances in which they find themselves. Suffering is expressed in different ways in this story. Some actually face their form of suffering directly, while others do not. Regardless, suffering is present in all their lives and will affect them whether they recognize it or not. In Ernest Hemingway's short story "Indian Camp", a young boy named Nick goes to an American Indian camp across the lake with his father, who is a doctor, and his Uncle George. His father was called to help deliver the baby of an American Indian woman who had been in labor for the past two days. She suffers and Nick watches the situation unfold before his eyes. The theme of suffering is evident in this story and the suffering of two of the characters is caused by the unborn child itself. There is both physical and mental suffering and each character deals with pain in their own way. Indian woman suffers physical pain due to painful labor for two days. She has been screaming for days and the doctor hasn't been able to stop her because she doesn't have any anesthetic. The Indian woman suffers from more physical pain when the doctor started operating on her without the right surgical material. The doctor declares with.