View a FREE sample

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 reacts most favorably to Sonny’s arrival?

2. What subject does the narrator teach?

3. Which of the following does the narrator use as a term for drugs?

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

5. To which of the following does the narrator compare a student?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

7. For what is Sonny arrested?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Sources attest to the presence of “Sonny’s Blues” on must-read lists. Assuming that such status reflects popularity, what accounts for the popularity of the short story? How does it do so?

Essay Topic 2

Overall, what is the most important theme of “Sonny’s Blues”? What in the text indicates as much? How does it do so?

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. 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?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 562 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample