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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 does the narrator compare the outside world?

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

4. Who rails at Sonny about truancy?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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. How does Isabel realize that Sonny has left?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Consider the ending of the story. Does it satisfy? How or how not?

Essay Topic 3

A lack of formal sectional division in the short story obliges a fairly arbitrary breakdown of the text for purposes of study and discussion. How might the short story be sectioned off other than it currently is? Why might those divisions be appropriate, based on the text and its contexts of composition and reception?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 595 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample