Has there ever been someone in your life that you are supposed to care about, but you find it hard to get close to this person because of his or her decisions? In the short story "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin a similar story is told about a brother who finds it hard to care for and love his brother Sonny. The message Baldwin is conveying throughout the story is that our family should not be taken for granted and that everyone should have a chance to be heard. The story is told through the eyes of the brother who struggles to understand Sonny, because he fails to listen to what Sonny has to say. As a result of the narrator's deaf ear the brothers grow apart for most of their lives. The narrator is very different from Sonny and does not truly come to comprehend his brother until he finally listens to Sonny's music at a nightclub.
             The narrator and Sonny were raised in Harlem during very difficult times. The narrator went to college and became a teacher while Sonny was off running the streets playing music and using heroin. The narrator took the safe route when he went into the service and took no risks in his life, in contrast to Sonny who was arrested for using heroin. Even when the narrator is younger and in the service, he doesn't understand Sonny. The last time the narrator sees his mother they talk about Sonny who at the time was out in the streets doing who knows what. His mother tells him that he must watch out for Sonny. The narrator says he will, however it sounds like he is just going through the motions to make his mother feel at ease. The last thing she says to him is, "You may not be able to stop nothing from happening. But you got to let him know you's there" (49). When she says this, the narrator does not realize the meaning until years later when his daughter dies of polio. This event sparks a jolt in the narrator's head that he has a brother somewhere...