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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. To get away from what had Sonny first left Harlem?

2. To what is Sonny’s experience compared?

3. In front of what kind of eatery is the sidewalk revival?

4. On what does Sonny purpose to rely for education?

5. Which of the following songs is sung at the sidewalk revival?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Isabel realize that Sonny has left?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Sonny’s Blues” was originally published in 1957. Comments about it are many and easily found. What are the dominant trends among those comments? That is, what comments seem to be made about “Sonny’s Blues” most often, by what kinds of people, and in what situations?

Essay Topic 2

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

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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