Sonny seeks salvation from a variety of things in a multitude of different places. It was in Harlem that Sonny began looking for salvation, and he found it doing heroin and playing the blues. Sonny left Harlem before he even graduated high school, but he never really left Harlem. Harlem clung to Sonny in the form of a heroin addiction. The narrator often blamed Sonny's musician friends or his career choice as the reason for Sonny's drug problem. In truth, it was Sonny's way of coping with the suffering he saw in the world and felt himself. Sonny felt good when he played music or shot, so he thought it was salvation. When Sonny played the blues, it gave him an outlet for the sadness his soul contained, and when he took heroin, he was able to forget it. For Sonny, the two had very little to do with each other, as can be seen in the scene where the brothers talk about his addiction and career path. Sonny says, “It's not so much acting. It's supporting it, being able to get through it. At any level. He frowned and smiled, “To avoid falling apart.” Sonny goes on to explain how he felt the need to hide from the suffering people have to go through, because it's just not fair for people to suffer so much. For Sonny, music and heroin were two different escapes, but for the narrator, they were one.,