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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. What song does the narrator remember his mother singing?

2. How old is the narrator when his father dies?

3. What instrument had the narrator’s uncle played?

4. What are the last words the narrator’s mother says to him in the story?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

2. For what is Sonny arrested?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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

Essay Topic 2

A lack of formal sectional division in the short story obliges a fairly arbitrary breakdown of the text for purposes of study and discussion. How might the short story be sectioned off other than it currently is? Why might those divisions be appropriate, based on the text and its contexts of composition and reception?

Essay Topic 3

Which character is the second most important in the text? How does the work support such an assertion?

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