Racism In Sonny's Blues, By James Baldwin

In Sonny’s Blues, by James Baldwin, we start out by meeting the narrator, an unnamed, middle-aged African-American male. He is riding the subway to work and he opens his newspaper to find out that his younger brother, Sonny, has been arrested for distributing and using heroin. Although he and his brother have been distant in the past, this traumatic event seems to make his brother real to him again. He continues on to work to teach his algebra class at a local high school in Harlem, but all through the day he feels scared and as if a great block of ice is inside of his belly and is melting there slowly all day long. At the end of the day, the narrator packs up his things to head home and proceeds to walk across the school courtyard. An old friend of Sonny’s is hiding in the shadows and steps out to have a chat. Although the narrator never liked the man, seeing that he was always dirty and high, he feels a sense of pity for him. The man goes on to explain to the narrator about how hard it is going to be for Sonny, and how even when he gets out of jail he will …show more content…
The boys sat down and chatted about what Sonny wanted to do with his life. Sonny made it very clear that he was going to be a musician, no matter what anyone else wanted for him. The narrator tried to take on a more authoritative position with his brother and tried to persuade him in a different direction, but Sonny would not hear it. Arrangements were made for him to live with his sister-in-law and her parents for the time being so he could finish school. He was not very keen on this idea but followed through for his brother. While Sonny was living there he played the piano day and night, even though the family had a hard time dealing with his constant practicing. Isabel told her husband that it was like living with sound instead of a