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Sonny and Dee have several things in common. Both Sonny from “Sonny’s Blues” and Dee from “Everyday Use” are African American, meaning they are both black. Although at the time these stories were written, they were referred to as Negros. Due to their color, both Sonny and Dee struggled in society. They did not have the same treatment as the other children. “You're getting to be a big boy,' I said desperately, 'it's time you started thinking about your future.' 'I'm thinking about my future,' said Sonny, grimly. 'I think about it all the time.” (Sonny’s Blues, Baldwin).
Children of the opposite color seemed to have it all lined out for them, but as a child of color, Sonny and even Dee had to begin at a young age, figuring out how they could not only support themselves but also their family. Like Sonny, Dee had siblings too. With that said, their families struggled greatly with poverty. Neither of their parents had an education. Due to their struggle in society, they always seemed to be stressed and in pain. This stress caused them to become addicted to something. For Sonny it was drugs and for Dee, it was anything to do with her ethnic background. Regardless, both of them became addicted to something.
Sonny and Dee felt trapped because of their skin tone. Just like Dee, Sonny felt that she had nowhere to go in society and feared that she might turn out just like her parents. Each of these characters went through troubling times, but eventually, both of them chose to change. In “Sonny’s Blues”, Sonny begins to take up music. For Sonny, music gives him the ability to escape from the world. It is an escape from poverty and segregation. Likewise, in “Everyday Use”, Dee made a change too. She chose to change her name. She changed it to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo because she “…couldn't bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me.” (Everyday Use, Walker). She could not take the oppression for the last name she bared for the past years. Therefore, she took a stand and changed it to create a new beginning for herself.
Both Sonny and Dee found a way out of their frustration and found ways to transform their lives. They both were of the same color, both went through the frustrations of segregation, and both came out better than their ancestors and their old person, meaning better than who they used to be. Sonny and Dee have many things in common.
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