mikstull

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by mikstull | October 15, 2013 · 5:27 pm

Family Matters

The word I chose to look up is family. To me family is very important and I wanted to see what the Oxford English Dictionary had to say about this word. The word family comes from the Latin words familia (household) and famulus (servant). The earliest it was used in text was in 1425 by “Andrew of Wyntoun Oryg. Cron. Scotl. (Nero) viii. L. 708 Amange his kyn and his famylle.” (OED). I was surprised to see that the very first definition of family in the OED is, “the servants of a house or establishment; the household” (OED). For a word that means so much more, I was a bit taken aback by it. The second definition was more relatable, “the body of persons who live in one house or under one head, including parents, children, servants, etc.” (OED). Still, this definition is very straightforward and lacking emotion that gets put with the word family. The only definition that might show a little emotion towards the word is, “the group of person consisting of the parents and their children, whether actually living together or not; in wider sense, the unity formed by those who are nearly connected by blood or affinity.” (OED). After reading through all of the definitions of family in the OED, I have come to realize that the meaning and emotion of the word family has to be put in by yourself/your family members.

“Music is the shorthand of emotion.” ~Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy

When first watching the film “Sonny’s Blues” in class I found myself frustrated with quite a few of Gregory Scott Williams, Jr.’s interpretations of certain scenes from the book. I focused too much on the specific details in the film compared to the book. However, the second time I watched the film I tried my best to focus on the similarities between the two. What I found, when my mind was clear and not filled with prejudices of their differences, was that the emotion was still there. The feeling of disconnect between the brothers was strong and well portrayed, especially in the scene when Sonny calls his brother from the pay phone. When his brother hangs up on Sonny and leaves the phone off the hook, you can feel the strife between the two. At the end of the story, in the book and film, when Sonny played for his brother I could feel the overwhelming emotion of Sonny’s struggles. Hearing the music in the film made that emotion so much more real. “…There was no battle in his face now, I heard what he had gone through, and would continue to go thorough until he came to rest in earth.” (Baldwin 117). His challenges in the beginning of playing resemble those he recently overcame while in rehab, struggling to get through. As he continued to play he became more proficient, as he will with his strength to stay clean as life goes on. No matter the differences between the book and film, Williams did a marvelous job of keeping the emotions true to the book in his film.

Baldwin, James. “Sonny’s Blues.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Shorter Eleventh Edition. New York, New York. W.W. Norton & Company (2013): 96-118. Print.