Half Blood Blues Character Analysis

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“Half Blood Blues” by Esi Edugyan displays that societal restrictions and norms lead to the development of Sidney Griffith’s (Sid) character development. This novel takes place in Germany during 1939, where Sid starts his Jazz career in Germany, up until the time when Sid and his friends escaped to Poland in 1992. Sid and his friends travel to Germany from Paris when a musician offers them a job. The struggles that Sid suffers throughout the years and in Germany allow him to develop into a person who is insecure and lacking self-confidence. Government regulations, racism against Afro-Germans, and racism against Jewish people are elements of the novel’s society that shape Sidney Griffith. The 20th century government regulations in Germany…show more content…
A former concentration camp prisoner tells Sid about what he witnesses while being at camp. He tells Sid that he was put into camp for being a black and wore the black badge. According to the “United States Holocaust Memorial Museum”, “The Nazis persecuted those they considered to be racially inferior. Nazi racial ideology primarily vilified Jews, but also propagated hatred for Roma (Gypsies) and blacks.” This was common back then as Nazis had a vision that they were the only race that should be respected and every other race is below them. They would do anything to remain higher than anyone, include murdering those they thought might take over racially. People would be lucky if they were not sent to a concentration camp. After hearing such tragic stories, Sid is regrets his decision of coming to Germany and tells himself repeatedly that he should have stayed in Paris. Now he is trying to figure out a way on how to get out of this country. He feels insecure about where he is living due to the racism towards his race. Another government regulation that bothered him very much were the rules for Jazz players: “Jazz. Here in Germany it become something worse than a virus.”…show more content…
Jazz was hated upon by the Nazis during this time, so they tried to do everything they could to stop the jazz players from playing this kind of music. Jazz was like rock and roll in the 1950s, it was a brand new thing. Just like how rock and roll was not immediately accepted by society, Jazz was not accepted by the Nazis. Rules like, “All light orchestras and dance bands are advised to restrict the use of saxophones of all keys and to substitute for them the violin-cello, the viola or possibly a suitable folk instrument” were imposed by the Nazis so they do not have to hear Jazz music (Open Culture). Sid was being restricted from doing the things he loved and effected him emotionally. Finally, an usual government regulation that deeply affected Sid were human zoos. David, a journalist from “Blind Spot”, sadly states that, “Throughout the early 20th century, Germany held what was termed a, “Peoples Show,” or Völkerschau. Africans were brought in as carnival or zoo
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