Sunny in If I Tell You the Truth: A Character Analysis

Overview

Sunny Sahota is a supporting character in Jasmin Kaur's verse-and-prose novel. He enters the story as Sahaara's romantic interest, a fellow South Asian teen in Surrey hiding family burdens under a confident exterior. Throughout the narrative, Sunny struggles with trust, secrecy, and the pressure of supporting his family financially through illegal means. His presence forces Sahaara to confront her own impulse to share secrets and the limits of vulnerability.

Plot Role

Sunny functions as both a catalyst for Sahaara's emotional growth and a mirror of her own concealed life. He first appears at a wedding reception (Chapter 59), where he keeps Sahaara company after she sprains her ankle. Their connection deepens through intimate conversations about family, assumptions, and desire. Sunny's role evolves from a romantic interest into a figure who challenges Sahaara's honesty—first by inviting her to lie to her mother, later by hiding his own struggles from her. His drug-dealing revelation (Chapter 75) forces Sahaara to reexamine trust and the weight of unspoken truths. By the novel's later chapters, Sunny's absence and eventual return create emotional turbulence as Sahaara navigates her feelings while facing her mother's detention and her own path forward.

Motivations and Traits Shown Through Actions

Motivation: Sunny's primary motivation is his family's survival. When an acquaintance asks him for a weed deal, Sunny texts Sahaara: "honest truth, we're having a hard time at home. this isn't for me. it's for my family." This reveals that his financial actions stem from necessity, not greed.

Traits:

• Protective but guarded: Sunny avoids labeling the relationship with Sahaara (Chapter 73), saying he doesn't want to "ruin us by putting labels on us." He defers commitment to preserve what they have, but this also reflects his fear of fully opening up.
• Vulnerable beneath bravado: At the Halloween party, he admits his dislike of drinking because his father's alcoholism made him associate the act with being physically sick on him. He confesses assumptions about being a "Surrey Jack" that people make about him.
• Attentive and romantic: Sunny skips basketball practice to sit with Sahaara, picking dandelions and asking about her day, favorite painters, and why she reads Rumi (Chapter 61). He remembers details and pays close attention.
• Secretive: He hides his financial activities from Sahaara until she discovers them in a hallway confrontation. This secrecy stems from shame and the desire not to burden her.

Chronological Arc

Sunny's character moves from introduction to deepening intimacy, followed by betrayal of trust, estrangement, and ambiguous reconnection.

• Chapters 59-60: Introduced as Jeevan's friend. After Sahaara trips, Sunny keeps her company; a few scenes later, he asks for her number at a party. Their attraction begins.
• Chapters 61-63: They spend time alone, kiss at the Halloween party, and bond over shared family pain. Sahaara lies to her mother to see him.
• Chapters 67-73: Their relationship grows in private. Sahaara tells Sunny many personal truths but conceals her mother's undocumented status. Sunny avoids defining their relationship.
• Chapter 75 (Revelations): Sahaara learns Sunny sells weed for family income. She walks home furious; he apologizes via text.
• Chapter 76: Sahaara confronts him, and he explains his family's financial crisis. Her anger shifts to empathy as she recognizes her own need to hide struggles.
• Chapters 81-83: Sunny stands her up at Boston Pizza. Sahaara avoids him for over a month, actively blocking him from her thoughts.
• Chapters 95-96: Months later, Sunny texts her. Despite deleting his number, she responds, feeling her heart thawing for a boy "only good at goodbyes." The chapter ends with her anxiety about this reconnection.
• Chapter 130: Later, Sunny asks victim-blaming questions during an argument, causing Sahaara to vent to Jeevan. This indicates a fracture that leads to further distance.

Note: The outline does not show a definitive reconciliation between Sahaara and Sunny. Their story ends on an ambiguous note.

Relationships

With Sahaara: Their relationship is built on unexpected emotional intimacy that repeatedly hits a wall of secrecy. Sahaara tells him almost everything except her mother's status; Sunny hides his illegal work. Both are drawn to each other's vulnerability yet fear full disclosure. Sunny's refusal to label the relationship and his later avoidance of her at Boston Pizza show a pattern of emotional withdrawal when pressures mount.

With Jeevan: Sunny is Jeevan's friend from basketball, but the friendship remains largely off-page. Jeevan questions Sahaara's spending time with Sunny after the estrangement, suggesting some loyalty tension.

With Mani: Mani teases Sunny about Sahaara at the wedding reception, and Sunny's annoyed reaction shows he values his private space. Mani is also the connection to the weed-dealing circle, which Sunny uses for income.

Key Decisions and Consequences

• Decision to sell weed for family money (Chapter 75): This choice damages Sahaara's trust when she learns of it indirectly. Consequence: a rift that takes months to heal, and a reminder that financial survival can override moral reservations.
• Decision to not label the relationship (Chapter 73): Sunny chooses ambiguity to preserve their connection, but this leaves Sahaara uncertain and ultimately hurt when he later stands her up. The lack of commitment may enable him to remain emotionally distant.
• Decision to avoid Sahaara after Boston Pizza (implied by Chapter 81-83): This avoidance hurts Sahaara and forces her to begin moving on, though his later text message reopens the wound.
• Decision to reach out months later (Chapter 95): By texting Sahaara after she deleted his number, Sunny re-enters her life at a vulnerable moment. This decision reignites her conflicted feelings.

Theme and Symbol Connections

Secrecy and Truth-Telling: Sunny's secret drug dealing parallels Sahaara's secret about her mother's undocumented status. Both characters hide burdens from those closest to them, illustrating how shame and fear of judgment prevent honest connection.

Trauma and Survival: Sunny's father's alcoholism and the resulting financial pressure force Sunny into illegal work. He is a young person already bearing adult responsibilities, reflecting the novel's examination of how family trauma shapes adolescent choices.

Identity and Assumptions: Sunny challenges Sahaara's initial assumption that he is just another "Surrey Jack." The novel uses his character to critique the act of stereotyping, even within the same community. His request "not to live inside a box" echoes themes of resisting labels and reclaiming complex identity.

Mother-Daughter Bond: Sunny's interactions indirectly impact Sahaara's relationship with her mother. Her lie to see him triggers a major confrontation (Chapter 64), and his standing her up later leads to a vulnerable conversation where Sahaara's mother validates her feelings (Chapter 81). Sunny serves as a conduit for mother-daughter honesty to emerge.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does Sunny avoid labeling his relationship with Sahaara?

Sunny explicitly says he doesn't want to "ruin us by putting labels on us" and that being together "feels right" as is (Chapter 73). This likely stems from his discomfort with public commitment, possibly due to his chaotic home life where relationships have been unreliable. The novel never gives a definitive reason, leaving it open to interpretation.

Why does Sunny sell weed, and how does Sahaara react?

Sunny sells weed to support his family during a financially hard time (Chapter 75). Sahaara discovers this when a teammate asks for a deal in front of her. She feels betrayed because Sunny never told her. After he explains, she shifts to empathy, recognizing his burden mirrors her own hidden struggles (Chapter 76).

What happens when Sunny stands Sahaara up at Boston Pizza?

Sunny does not appear for their planned meeting (Chapter 81). Sahaara paints while her mother does laundry, eventually admitting to her mother that she was stood up. Her mother validates her hurt. Sunny avoids Sahaara for over a month afterward (Chapter 83), and she actively tries to stop thinking about him.

Does Sunny know Sahaara's deepest secret about her mother?

No. By the end of November, Sunny knows that Sahaara's mother left Punjab and raised her alone, and that her Bibi is not a biological relative. But Sahaara forces herself to keep the secret that "mom was undocumented" (Chapter 67). He never learns this truth within the story's timeline.

Do Sahaara and Sunny end up together?

The novel leaves their relationship unresolved. Sunny asks victim-blaming questions in a later argument (Chapter 130), which damages their connection further. Sahaara later receives a text from him and feels her heart thawing (Chapter 95-96), but the outline does not show a reconciliation. The final chapters focus on Sahaara's art show and her mother's situation, with no mention of Sunny.