The Narrator
The first-person narrator of “Sonny’s Blues” is a high school math teacher in Harlem. As the story begins, he has to decide how to handle his brother Sonny’s trouble with addiction. The narrator is…
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Sonny
Sonny is the narrator’s brother. He’s a jazz musician and a heroin addict who lived a bohemian life in New York prior to being arrested for his drug abuse and sent to jail. Sonny…
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The Narrator’s Mother
The narrator’s mother is not alive in “Sonny’s Blues,” but the narrator remembers her at length in the middle of the story. She is described as a wise and caring woman who took on the…
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The Narrator’s Father
The narrator’s father is also not alive in “Sonny’s Blues,” but through the narrator’s memories of him and his mother’s stories about him, Baldwin gives a glimpse of who he was. The narrator’s…
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The Narrator’s Father’s Brother
The narrator’s father’s brother only appears in “Sonny’s Blues” through the narrator’s memory of a story his mother told him, but nonetheless he is a consequential character because his death is at the center…
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Isabel
Isabel is the narrator’s wife. She is shown to be a kind and understanding person who is happy to take Sonny into their family, despite his troubles. Isabel’s great sorrow was witnessing the agonizing death…
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The Narrator’s Sons
The narrator’s sons are most frequently invoked in the story to demonstrate the destructive potential of Harlem. The narrator worries constantly that these kind and good-natured boys will become corrupted by the drugs, violence, and…
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Creole
Creole is the leader of the band Sonny plays with at the jazz club. He is older than Sonny and the narrator, and clearly an experienced musician—the narrator realizes quickly when they start playing…
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Isabel’s Parents
All Baldwin tells us about Isabel’s parents is that they didn’t approve of the narrator marrying their daughter, and yet they took in teenaged, orphaned Sonny anyway for the narrator’s sake. It’s a kindness…
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Sonny’s Friend
Sonny’s friend is, like Sonny, an addict in Harlem. The narrator recognizes him because he’s always on the streets asking for money. At the beginning of the story, Sonny’s friend tracks down the narrator…
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Minor Characters
Grace
Grace is the narrator’s youngest child who died of polio at the age of two. The grief that her death causes in the narrator is what makes him finally able to step outside of himself and consider Sonny’s suffering, leading him to repair their relationship.
