Sonny's Blues takes place in the middle of the 20 century, a time when jazz music was at its peak of popularity in Harlem. It is a beautiful story about two brothers who seemingly love each other but have a very difficult time understanding each others lives. The older brother, who remains nameless, feels mutually bound to his brother Sonny, because their mother wanted Sonny to be protected and looked after always. .
The story begins with Sonny being picked up by the police for selling and using heroin. Sonny's brother reads about it in the paper and does not know how to react mainly because they never understood one another, always argued, and rarely conversed. However, he had made a promise to his mother before she died to always look after Sonny. Sonny's brother eventually he writes to Sonny in jail and the meet after he is paroled. .
Sonny, the protagonist, is constantly attacked by his older brother to change his life, go to school, and find direction. However, all Sonny wants to do is play the piano in Greenwich, and his older brother doesn't understand. Throughout the story, the two are in fight with one another, but at the climax of the story, both Sonny and his brother find their agreement with each other. As the story ends Sonny asks his brother to accompany him to Greenwich in order to hear him play. His brother is doubtful, but he accepts the offer merely to support his brother's wish. When Sonny takes stage, his piano seems, at first, out of sync with the jazz quartet. Although, when plays Am I Blue he becomes lost in the music and his sorrow is projected through the music. It as at this moment when his brother has an unity: I felt my own tears begin to rise. And I was yet aware that this was only a moment, that the world waited outside, as hungry as a tiger, and that trouble stretched above us, longer than the sky'"' (90). The story is then resolved, for Sonny's brother feels alive, and more importantly understands the pain of his brother.
