Reading response prompts for "Sonny's Blues"

First off, I have put a copy of our text, Literature and Its Writers 6th edition, on two hour reserve at the library. Also, the bookstore across the street from De Anza (I forget its name now) has our text and has a rental option.

So below are the prompts for the reading response for "Sonny's Blues." I will post reading response prompts for all the stories we will be reading these next two weeks. Again, you only need to complete two reading responses during this time. Please print out your reading responses and bring them to class on the same day the reading is due. Also, this is a different assignment than the essay. The instructions for reading responses are in the syllabus. The idea is that these should help prepare you for the essay, and for class as well. Again, the prompts for the first essay were posted earlier. If you have any questions about all this, contact me.

Reading Response for James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” (99)

Due: Tuesday, January 13

Choose one of the prompts as the focus of your response. Use specific evidence from the story to demonstrate your interpretation.

1. In the beginning, what is the narrator’s story about who Sonny is? What is the narrator’s story about his relationship to Sonny? How do these narratives contribute to the conflict between them?

2. When the narrator and Sonny get back together, Sonny is trying to create a new life for himself, a new narrative. What are his obstacles to doing this?

3. Look for places where music appears in the story before the final scene when Sonny plays. What do these scenes have in common? What function does music seem to serve for people in the story?

4. In the end, the narrator sees Sonny’s music as telling a story. What story is it telling? How does this help the characters?

5. Choose your own focus for analysis.