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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. What song does the narrator remember his mother singing?

3. What instrument does the narrator associate with Sunday afternoons with his parents?

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

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. For what is Sonny arrested?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explicate the significance of the name of any one character in the text.

Essay Topic 2

To what genre other than jazz fiction might “Sonny’s Blues” be considered to belong? What in the text supports that identification? How does it do so?

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?

(see the answer keys)

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