“Sonny's Blues” by James Baldwin this story is about two brothers who grew up and still live in Harlem and how they handle the pain and suffering that occurred in the their lives. The city of Harlem plays an important role in this story because both brothers are trying to escape from where they came from. Feeling trapped by his surroundings, Sonny turned to drugs. The narrator of the story, as we later learn is Sonny's older brother, reads in the newspaper that Sonny had been arrested the night before during a raid on a downtown apartment for dealing and using heroin (Baldwin, 2012) . The narrator felt scared and feared what would happen to Sonny, you see this when he states, “It was a special kind of ice. It kept melting, sending streams of ice water up and down my veins, but it never diminished” (Baldwin, 2012). Ice in this story means different things, fear, terror, shock and feeling of uneasiness. As the narrator talks to Sonny's friend, he feels there is nothing he can or should do, Sonny brought this on himself and will have to face the consequences. He feels he has escaped the darkness of Harlem by finding a responsible job and having a family, now Sonny will have to find his own escape beyond drugs. The darkness is not the absence of light but the darkness of life in Harlem; drug use, drug dealing, the poverty of the community and the prostitutes who were always seen on the corners. Sonny, being in prison, has no news from his brother for a long time until a devastating event happens in his brother's life. His brother's daughter died of polio and he remembered the promise he had made to his mother before she died, which was "you have to let him know you're there" (Baldwin, 2...... middle of paper... . ..it's not an easy thing to do. Another reason it's hard to give help is because they don't trust you and their willpower is obsolete. You must know that there are disadvantages to cleaning yourself, and Sonny's older brother realized this because he fought with himself whether or not he should search Sonny's room while he was there alone. realize at a certain point that you can only help someone up to a certain point, so you have to give him space to see if he will make the right decision, you have to pray that he makes the right choice and goes away. Works Cited Baldwin, James "The blues of Sonny". Ed. XJ Kennedy and Dana Gioia.12th ed. New York: Pearson, 2013. Print.