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. How old is the narrator when his father dies?

2. What metal does the narrator associate with Sonny?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

9. For what is Sonny arrested?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Conversely, given demonstrated efforts toward censorship in a number of countries, what would likely prompt bans of “Sonny’s Blues”? By which groups? Why?

Essay Topic 2

Assuming that “Sonny’s Blues” should be standard reading for a given class and level, what class and what level? Why that class and why that level? What in the text suggests as much, and 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)

This section contains 510 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample