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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. In what season does the story begin?

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

3. What metal does the narrator associate with Sonny?

4. How old is Sonny when his father dies?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. For what is Sonny arrested?

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

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

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

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

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

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

To what other writer’s work in your experience does Baldwin’s seem most similar? What makes the writers similar? What differentiates them? Overall, which do you regard as doing better at the craft of writing, and why?

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?

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