When Sonny’s brother thinks about his students at the end of class and how he heard his brother in the mocking and insular laughter of his students, he says “And myself” indicating that he heard himself in the students and Sonny.

The story begins as an unnamed algebra teacher reads something disturbing while riding the subway to school. The teacher, the story’s narrator, exits the subway and continues towards his school, his fear and anxiety growing about the fate of his brother Sonny, who has been arrested for selling heroin. Thinking of his brother reminds him of his students, who face limited possibilities in a hostile world. The narrator speculates that many of his students may already be experimenting with drugs like heroin. At the end of the school day the narrator listens to the laughter of his students for the first time and realizes it is mocking and cruel. Yet he also notices a boy whistling a complex tune that cuts through all the laughter and noise, which reminds him of Sonny.