Sonnys Blues by James Baldwin - Assignment Example

“I stared at it in the swinging lights of the subway car, and in the faces and bodies of the people, and in my own face, trapped in the darkness which roared outside.” “It was not to be believed and I kept telling myself that, as I walked from the subway station to the high school. And at the same time, I wouldn't doubt it.” “He had been picked up, the evening before, in a raid on an apartment downtown, for peddling and using heroin.” The first quotation that is mentioned above is quite confusing and informs about the narrator and some news that has heard.

He continuously ponders on the news and is unable to believe it. He tries to find the truth in everything around him. The second quotation is revealing about the narrator’s tension related to the news. The narrator is unable to believe in the news that he has obtained but on the other hand, he is confused and thinks that it can also happen. In his deep inside, he feels that what he has read can be true because of some circumstances in which, they have lived. The third quotation is revealing about the narrator’s brother Sonny.

It tells that Sonny got arrested because of peddling and using heroin. The news in which, the narrator was unable to believe and believe likewise was Sonny’s arrest on the basis of heroin usage and selling. The narrator is unable to believe because he considers his brother as a good person but when he thinks about Harlem and their surrounding environment, he realizes that Sonny can be indulged in negative activities such as heroin selling and usage. The last scene that is the nightclub scene is quite revealing.