piano is just a piano. It’s made out of so much wood and wires and little hammers and big ones, and ivory.
” p.138. The statement shows that piano is an ordinary instrument made of ordinary things. Piano can be extraordinary if the musicians
put everything on it while he play. “He has to fill it, this instrument, with the breath of life, his own. He has to make it do what he wants it to do.
” p.138. Therefore, the narrator stated
“I had never thought of how awful the relationship must be between the musician and his instrument
.” p.138. For musicians, the instrument is like a part of them so when the instrument is played, it comes alive
and able to evoke their emotions. In the end of first playing set, Baldwin put a metaphor of Sonny’s struggle:
“Everything had been burned out of it, and at the same time, things usually hidden were being burned in, by the fire and fury of the battle which was occuring up
there. ” p.138. The different context can be seen as Sonny’s past memories is
burned. It may refer to how Sonny finally overcome his past memories, but it is not an easy job as Baldwin uses terms “fire and fury of the battle” to represent
Sonny’s struggle. It shows the terrible process. In the near end of second playing, Baldwin puts another metaphor: “brand-
new pianos certainly a gas.” p.139. The terms „brand-new pianos’ is used to represent the condition of Sonny in the playing of “Am I Blue” when he finishes
his struggle and find the right tune. The term „gas’ is used to represent that this triumph is only temporary and quickly disappeared.
In the end of the story when Sonny drinks the bottle of Scotch and milk, Baldwin inserts an allusion to the Bible of Isaiah
51: “it glowed and shook above
my brother’s head like the very cup of trembling.” p.140. The cup of trembling represents the suffering of Jerusalem people. In the Bible, God promises that the
people of Jerusalem will no longer drink from the cup of trembling and will give it to the people who oppress them. In the story, the cup of trembling may
symbolize the freedom of African-American that is no longer oppressed by the whites.
C. The Relations of the Verbal Music
This chapter is divided into two parts. The first part containing the
structural similarities found in the analysis of verbal music or the metaphoric organization in the story. The second part talks about the metonymic organization
based on contiguity that shows sequence of the story. It also showsthe tangled roots from the historical point of view and the contribution of the verbal music
toward the story.
1. The Structural Similarities
To the extent of the analysis of verbal music, there are some structural similarities found in both verbal music.
The first similarity can be seen in the audience response toward the performance. In both descriptions the people show their interest in the
performance by stopping their activity and switch their focus on the performance. This can be seen in
the description of the revival meeting: “Kids and older people paused in their errands and stood there” p.128 and “as though they owned it, or
w ere maybe owned by it.” p.128 and as well as in the jazz performance: “Some
people at the bar shushed others. The waitress ran around frantically getting in the last orders, guys and chicks got closer to each other” p.137. This excitement
indicates the importance of the performance to the people. The second similarity is the testifying part. In the verbal music of revival
meeting Baldwin writes “The brother was testifying and while he testified two of the sisters stood together, seeming to say, amen” p.128. Baldwin also inserts a
statement in the jazz perfor mance: “Then they all gathered around Sonny and
Sonny played. Every now and again one of them seemed to say, amen.” p.140.
The statement implies an act of testifying. In his performance, Sonny testifies his life, his struggle, and his triumph in his playing, just like the brother who testifies
the rescue work in the bible. The numbers of performers in the two music performances, whether
incidentally or not, also have the same number that is four. However, not every performer is described sufficiently as the importance laid in the leader whose role
is dominant on the performance. The leader in both performances exists within the sister with tambourine and Creole. It is already described in the analysis of the
verbal music how Creole leads the band, guide Sonny into his triumph, and delivers the message of the music. Similarly, the sister with tambourine leads the
singing in the revival meeting as seen in “the woman with the tambourine, whose singing dominated the air” p.129. Another statement of their similar role can be
found in “the sister with the tambourine kept a steady, jangling beat.” p.129 and
