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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following does Sonny play with Creole?

2. To what is Sonny’s experience compared?

3. What musician does Sonny applaud?

4. What instrument does Creole play?

5. Which instrument is played at the sidewalk revival?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Sonny make a point of smoking in front of the narrator after his mother’s death?

2. Why does the narrator posit that passers-by doubt the holiness of those conducting the sidewalk revival?

3. What revelation does Sonny report from listening to the sidewalk revival?

4. What effect does Grace’s death have on Isabel?

5. How does the narrator depict the common experience of hearing music?

6. How does Isabel realize that Sonny has left?

7. What does the narrator perceive Creole asserting “the blues were all about” (47)?

8. How does the narrator depict the performer’s experience of music?

9. Why does the narrator express misgivings about Sonny going into music?

10. What effect does the narrator notice the sidewalk revival has on its attendees?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How reliable is the narrator of the short story? What in the text indicates that reliability, and how does it do so?

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

What character is the protagonist of “Sonny’s Blues”? How does the short story support such an assertion?

(see the answer keys)

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