A penetrating examination of class and ethnic struggle in impoverished urban American society, "Sonny's Blues" focuses on one black man's attempts to express himself through a life of suffering, but somehow, to experience life abundantly in an environment that is otherwise demeaning and dehumanizing, where even children's humor is "mocking and insular, its intent to denigrate." It remains one of the most eloquent and poignant studies of the role of music in the experience of African-Americans.