In "Sonny's Blues" is Sonny a sympathetic character? Why or why not?

In "Sonny's Blues," the narrator's brother Sonny is a sympathetic character.  At the beginning of the story, the narrator learns that Sonny has yet again been arrested for being involved with heroin, and the narrator just cannot understand why his brother cannot work himself out of a life of drug abuse.  As the story unfolds, the reader learns about the harsh past that Sonny and the narrator have had, including the abuse and death faced by their uncle.  Sonny's way of escape is drugs, which the narrator does not understand.  Sonny wants his brother to understand that not everyone handles problems in the same way, and Sonny feels most alive when he is able to play the piano and make music.  It is not until the end of the story that the narrator understands through the music the pain that Sonny has been dealing with too.  The narrator eventually feels sympathy for his brother, and depending on the reader, Sonny has become a sympathetic character long before the end of the story as his character has been juxtaposed against the cold nature of the narrator.