Immediately from the opening scene, Baldwin introduces the notion of darkness to represent suffering in the lives of the characters in the story. Right from the first paragraph, the reader can see the recurring images of light and dark, as the narrator contemplates Sonny’s fate: “I stared at it in the swinging lights …show more content…
As the characters grow and change in the story, the interpretation of the light and dark change. The narrator focuses on the contrast between dark and light, with darkness as the suffering that must be avoided and escaped. But as he gets to know Sonny, he realizes for Sonny, whereas darkness provides shelter and relief, while light brings nothing but sadness and suffering. At times, Baldwin presents lightness and darkness as inseparable entities, existing in harmony like Yin and Yang. He also shows their dualities and complexities to illustrate how the shades of light