He is incredulous about the news he read in the newspaper. The author uses imagery so elegantly to represent the narrator's emotions, as he describes "A great block of ice settled in my belly and remained there all day" (Baldwin pg.21). Baldwin uses such an effective choice of concrete imagery to show our narrator's concern and fear for his brother. The reader is fascinated by this quote, being able to vividly imagine how the cold block of ice in the stomach feels when placed in that moment of the narrator. Additional imagery is used in "Sonny's Blues" showing how the unnamed narrator's clothes were soaked. “I might look like I'm sitting in a steam bath.” (Baldwin page 22) Describing how much he had sweated and revealing to the reader that the situation worries him. This is crucial to the story because it demonstrates the narrator's stress over concern and love for his family