Sonny’s Blues

happened, and why characters acted the way they do.

The exposition of the "Sonny's Blues" starts when the narrator introduces characters,

scene, and situation of the story. The narrator learns from a newspaper that his younger

brother, Sonny, has been arrested "for peddling and using heroin." (Baldwin 83) The

narrator is a high school teacher, and his wife is Isabel. Leaving the school, the

narrator comes across an old friend of Sonny's in the schoolyard. They talk about Sonny's

arrest and tell each other some their fears. The friend says that he "can't much help old

Sonny no more." This angers the narrator because it reminds him that he himself had give

up trying to help his brother and not even seen Sonny in a year.

However, he keeps in touch with Sonny again after his daughter dies. It is also the

moment the narrator begins to wonder about Sonny again. The scene ends the exposition,

and opens the story's rising action part.

The story continues as the narrator meets Sonny after Sonny get out of prison. As Sonny's

request, they take a long cab ride and