sonny blues

James Baldwin strongly implies a connection between environment and drug use. The narrator speaks of the boys of Harlem, “growing up with a rush and their heads bumped against the low ceiling of their actual possibilities” (p. 1). He also imagines his students could be “popping off needles every time they went to the head” (p. 1).

Sonny admits that he always wanted to leave Harlem in order to get away from drugs. And yet, the narrator grew up in Harlem and still lives in Harlem, living as a responsible adult, not drawn into the world of illegal drugs. He is a high school algebra teacher, working to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. What is the difference between the narrator and so many others, including his own brother, Sonny? James Baldwin leaves that question for the reader to ponder.