In James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues, Baldwin writes about an unnamed narrator and his younger brother during the Harlem Renaissance. The narrator is essentially stable in life, whereas his younger brother, who is a very talented yet troubled jazz musician, sells and abuses heroin and goes to prison early in the story. Due to the younger brother, Sonny, heroin addiction the two brothers are not as close as one thinks. The theme in this story got me wondering how heroin addiction affects families. I have decided to research this topic to answer how heroin affects children born to heroin-addicted mothers, how heroin affects the families of addicts, how it affects the addicts relationship with their families, and the acts of intervention and sobering which are just a few of the most intriguing questions to me. …show more content…
Heroin is an opioid drug which is created from morphine. It is a naturally occurring substance removed from the seed of the opium poppy plant. Heroin can appear as a white or brown powder or as a black sticky, tar-like substance. There are a number of ways it can be used such as; injected directly into a vein, injected directly into a muscle, placed on aluminum foil and inhaled as smoke through a straw or stem, or snorted as powder through the nose. All of the ways that heroin is used offer a swift delivery to the brain which offers an almost instant high. Heroin is a depressant that is converted back to morphine when it enters the brain. It then attaches to opioid receptors. These receptors are located in many areas of the brain and are that control the sensitivity to pain and reward. After a hit of heroin, users feel a rush of euphoria along with a dry mouth and heavy limbs. After the feeling of euphoria has dissipated the user experiences a consecutively restless and drowsy