"Sonny's Blues", written by acclaimed writer James Baldwin is a story of two brothers who struggle with their differences and end up going two different ways at the fork of life; molding them into their personalities which we see develop throughout the story. The differences in morals and goals, between Sonny and his brother, surface as a result of their differing views on jazz music. Baldwin's story begins with the narrator, Sonny's older brother, who's name remains disclosed, reads the morning paper on the way to work and finds out that his younger brother has been sent to jail for possession of narcotics. When Sonny's brother goes to work he sees his brother in the faces of his students and feels somehow responsible for the predicament he has been put into.
From the beginning of the story, Baldwin illustrates the difference in the characters through their varying circumstances. Sonny's older brother is a schoolteacher who holds a respectable middle class standing. Sonny on the other hand is a drug addict who seems to have no focus in life. The story progresses as do the characters. Sonny goes through many changes throughout the story is see as being dynamically round character because of these changes. From the beginning of the story Sonny starts off in jail after his arrest, he then goes to stay at his brother's house with his wife, Isabel, and her parents. He hones in on his love for music and at Isabel's house with their family piano. By this time he has at least grown from his ideas of growing up and living in India and is just trying to find his path so he goes on to joining the navy pleading "he just wants to do anything to get out of Brooklyn." He writes to his brother from Greece and lets him know that he is still living. Once Sonny returns he from the navy he once again finds himself engaging in various activities that lead him to the clubs downtown to play jazz.
