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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 9 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following does the narrator note having thrown from rooftops?

2. In which of the following had the narrator’s uncle worked?

3. How old is Sonny when his father dies?

4. Along what avenue do the narrator and Sonny travel?

5. In what branch of the military had the narrator served?

Short Essay Questions

1. For what is Sonny arrested?

2. Why does the narrator note being glad of Isabel’s presence when he brings Sonny home?

3. Why had the narrator not known he had an uncle?

4. Why does the narrator note that Sonny and his father had not gotten along?

5. What outcome does Sonny’s old acquaintance foresee for him?

6. What are the narrator’s earliest memories of Sonny?

7. Why does the narrator note having taken up residence where he did?

8. What does the narrator note would happen on Sunday evenings with his parents when someone turned on a light?

9. Why does the narrator posit his students are full of rage?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the overall attitude of the story towards musical performance? How does that attitude emerge from the text?

Essay Topic 2

What character is the protagonist of “Sonny’s Blues”? How does the short story support such an assertion?

Essay Topic 3

A lack of formal sectional division in the short story obliges a fairly arbitrary breakdown of the text for purposes of study and discussion. On what grounds might the current divisions be in place? Why and how are they appropriate to the text?

(see the answer keys)

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