Summary

The narrator of Sonny’s Blues begins his story in the subway, reading something in the paper that is important to him. The story shocks him. The narrator can’t believe what he has read, and he dwells on it as he walks from the subway station to the high school where he teaches algebra. He feels a great block of ice in his belly, melting all day long as he thinks about his younger brother, Sonny. When Sonny was the same age as the narrator’s students, he had a bright and open face, coppery hair, and direct brown eyes. The narrator wonders how Sonny looks now, after being picked up for peddling and using heroin the night before.

The narrator imagines that his students in algebra class might be popping off needles too as boys in Harlem grow up fast, filled with rage, and...