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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 branch of the military had the narrator served?

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

3. In what season does the story begin?

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

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

Short Essay Questions

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

2. For what is Sonny arrested?

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

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 note that Sonny and his father had not gotten along?

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

In the short story, some characters are given no name, some are given but one name, and still others are referenced by title. What significance, if any, accrues to patterns of naming in the novel? If no significance accrues, what purpose might be served by the patterns of naming in the novel? How does “Sonny’s Blues” bear as much out?

Essay Topic 3

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

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