"Sonny's Blues" -- James Baldwin

In the introduction of this story, another author compares a moment in his life with Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues" story. The narrator of the story uses vivid imagery when describing the "ice" he feels flowing through his veins after learning his brother Sonny had been arrested in a raid for using heroin. He teaches algebra to children at a school in Harlem, and comments how Sonny had always been a good boy compared to most boys who grow up in Harlem. Later on there are comments about Sonny's relationship with his father. He says "he was the apple of his father's eye," and because of this he was always fearful for him, which led to them fighting all the time. This goes to show how sometimes when parents are too protective of their children that the children can become very confrontational and argumentative. When Sonny begins practicing the piano at Isabel's, the author describes this relationship in a very unique way; first Isabel enjoys and admires Sonny's perseverance and practice of the piano. But then she begins to describe it as "not living with a person, but rather living with sound." They describe him as if he is god, coming in and out of their house as he pleases, not being rude, but just as if it is his own place.