Questions on Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues”
Roth

ENGL 2341

Assignment #2: Questions on Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues”

1) What is the older brother’s profession? Does it suggest anything about his personality?

2) What event prompts the narrator to write to his brother?

3) What does the narrator’s mother ask him to do for Sonny? Does the older brother keep his promise?

4) The major characters in this story are called Mama, Daddy, and Sonny (the older brother is never named or nicknamed). How do these names affect our sense of the story?

5) Reread the last four paragraphs of the story and explain the significance of the statement, “Now these are Sonny’s blues.” How has Sonny made this music his own?