Sonny Character Analysis

One of Bri's best friends and a member of the "Unholy Trinity." Bri and Malik refer to Sonny as the "hobbit" because of how he looks, though all three of them share a love of space operas, superhero movies, and fantasy like Lord of the Rings. Sonny is gay and desperately wants to get out of Garden Heights and attend college, where he believes he'll encounter less homophobia and racism. A graffiti artist, he spray paints rainbow fists in parks. One of these paintings attracts the attention of an Instagram user with the handle Rapid. Rapid and Sonny begin talking and develop crushes on each other, which presents a number of problems for Sonny. Sonny struggles with anxiety and worries often about whether he can properly study and have a boyfriend at the same time, which leads him to ignore Rapid in favor of studying for the SAT. Though he's extremely loyal to both Bri and Malik, he spends more time with Bri throughout the novel. He loves Bri's song from the beginning and helps convince her to let Malik make a music video using the footage of Bri's assault by Long and Tate. He's effectively able to remain on good terms with both Bri and Malik throughout their ongoing fight, though he resents having to be in the middle of it. Though Sonny never says so himself, Bri suggests that discovering that Rapid is actually Supreme's son Miles—and the artist behind the song "Swagerific"—will be hard for Sonny, as Sonny hates "Swagerific."