This Is What It Means To Say Phoenix, Arizona and Sonny's Blues
From Sonny's Blues:
"In the dark, the girl came by and I asked her to take dirnks to the bandstand and affter awhile I saw the girl put a Scotch and milk on top of the piano for Sonny. He didn't seem to notice it, but just before the started playing again, he sipped from it and looked toward me, and nodded. Then he put it back on top of the piano. For me, then, as they began to play again, it glowed and shook above my brother's head like the very cup of trembling."
From This Is What It Means To Say Phoenix, Arizona:
"Victor was ashamed of himself. Whatever happened to the tribalities, the sense of community? The only real thing he shared with anybody was a bottle and broken dreams. He owed Thomas something, anything.
"Listen," Victor said and handed Thomas the cardboard box that contained half of his father. 'I want you to have this.'
Thomas took the ashes and smiled, closed his eyes, and told this story: 'I'm going to travel to Spokane Falls one last time and toss these ashes into the water. And your father will rise like a salmon, leap over the bridge, over me, and find his way home. It will be beautiful. His teeth will shine like silver, like a rainbow. He will rise, Victor, he will rise."
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What makes these two stories similar is that they both focus on the evolution of the relationship between two characters who already know each other. In Sonny's Blues, the narrator reconnects with his brother Sonny, with whom he's had a rocky relationship, but eventually finds that Sonny's piano playing is meaningful and respects the path his brother has taken. In This Is What It Means To Say Phoenix, Arizona, the narrator, Victor, goes on a road trip with the tribe's outcast Thomas Builds-the-Fire, and strikes up a bit of a friendship in spite of societal expectations. However, Victor struggles with the idea of maintaining the friendship after the trip.
These two passages come at the end of their respective stories and feature the narrator giving a token of appreciation to their foils. In Sonny's Blues, the drink is a sign of respect. The narrator has learned something new about his brother, and views him in a different light. The imagery of the "cup of trembling" is a reference to Isaiah 51:22, where I think it's supposed to represent suffering, which means it might represent how much Sonny has suffered.
In This Is What It Means To Say Phoenix, Arizona, though, the ashes are only given to Thomas after Victor feels guilty about distancing himself from Thomas after the trip. To make up for it, he gives Thomas the ashes as consolation. The gifting of the ashes isn't a sign of respect or acceptance like the drink is in Sonny's Blues. Rather, it's an obligation, and doesn't show any real change in Victor. When Victor agrees to listen to Thomas's stories at the end, he even adds the caveat "Just once," showing that even though he's changed internally, he refuses to go against society to befriend Thomas.
"In the dark, the girl came by and I asked her to take dirnks to the bandstand and affter awhile I saw the girl put a Scotch and milk on top of the piano for Sonny. He didn't seem to notice it, but just before the started playing again, he sipped from it and looked toward me, and nodded. Then he put it back on top of the piano. For me, then, as they began to play again, it glowed and shook above my brother's head like the very cup of trembling."
From This Is What It Means To Say Phoenix, Arizona:
"Victor was ashamed of himself. Whatever happened to the tribalities, the sense of community? The only real thing he shared with anybody was a bottle and broken dreams. He owed Thomas something, anything.
"Listen," Victor said and handed Thomas the cardboard box that contained half of his father. 'I want you to have this.'
Thomas took the ashes and smiled, closed his eyes, and told this story: 'I'm going to travel to Spokane Falls one last time and toss these ashes into the water. And your father will rise like a salmon, leap over the bridge, over me, and find his way home. It will be beautiful. His teeth will shine like silver, like a rainbow. He will rise, Victor, he will rise."
---
What makes these two stories similar is that they both focus on the evolution of the relationship between two characters who already know each other. In Sonny's Blues, the narrator reconnects with his brother Sonny, with whom he's had a rocky relationship, but eventually finds that Sonny's piano playing is meaningful and respects the path his brother has taken. In This Is What It Means To Say Phoenix, Arizona, the narrator, Victor, goes on a road trip with the tribe's outcast Thomas Builds-the-Fire, and strikes up a bit of a friendship in spite of societal expectations. However, Victor struggles with the idea of maintaining the friendship after the trip.
These two passages come at the end of their respective stories and feature the narrator giving a token of appreciation to their foils. In Sonny's Blues, the drink is a sign of respect. The narrator has learned something new about his brother, and views him in a different light. The imagery of the "cup of trembling" is a reference to Isaiah 51:22, where I think it's supposed to represent suffering, which means it might represent how much Sonny has suffered.
In This Is What It Means To Say Phoenix, Arizona, though, the ashes are only given to Thomas after Victor feels guilty about distancing himself from Thomas after the trip. To make up for it, he gives Thomas the ashes as consolation. The gifting of the ashes isn't a sign of respect or acceptance like the drink is in Sonny's Blues. Rather, it's an obligation, and doesn't show any real change in Victor. When Victor agrees to listen to Thomas's stories at the end, he even adds the caveat "Just once," showing that even though he's changed internally, he refuses to go against society to befriend Thomas.
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