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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. How old is the narrator when his father dies?

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

3. What metal does the narrator associate with Sonny?

4. Of which borough does the narrator think while talking with Sonny’s childhood acquaintance?

5. At what level of school does the narrator teach?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. For what is Sonny arrested?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

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

Essay Topic 3

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

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