This paper proposes a dialogue of alterity as a key to unravel the complicated relationships between Sonny and his family environment, more precisely his big brother. These relationships exemplify the relationship between the self and the other on a general ground. The study has revealed two approaches to this highly problematic intercourse. The first one, termed a dialogue of reason, proves inefficient, for the rationality that substantiates it lacks any real objectivity, becoming nothing but an opposition dynamics at the center of two irreconcilable subjective rationalities. Tested with suffering caused by unhappy life course events, such as Sonny’s arrest and his big brother’s daughter’s death, the two protagonists engage in a dialogue of sensibility, which constitutes the second approach. The latter eventually proves productive, bringing about mutual understanding and unity.

Dialogue of alterity, dialogue of reason, dialogue of sensibility, self, the other, jazz music