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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 instrument is played at the sidewalk revival?

2. What instrument does the narrator initially think Sonny will play?

3. From what does Grace die?

4. What drink is served to Sonny at the piano?

5. What message does the narrator posit Creole has for Sonny?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. How does Isabel realize that Sonny has left?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A lack of formal sectional division in the short story obliges a fairly arbitrary breakdown of the text for purposes of study and discussion. On what grounds might the current divisions be in place? Why and how are they appropriate to 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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