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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 songs is sung at the sidewalk revival?

2. What instrument does Creole play?

3. Which instrument is played at the sidewalk revival?

4. On what avenue does the narrator live?

5. In what season does Grace die?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. How does Isabel realize that Sonny has left?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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