Questions 2

“Sonny’s Blues”

1. The story is told by Sonny’s brother. By having his brother, and not Sonny tell the story, it leaves information out as to what he’s really up to and see a worried brother’s point of view.
2. He’s a teacher, showing responsibility and somewhat boring. He went for a safe job that would offer him security.
3. The story would be more exciting if it were told by Sonny. We could hear about the interesting characters he was mixed up with and the exciting places he got to see. His brother makes the story seem sober.
4. His daughter dies, inspiring him to write his brother.
5. His mother asks him to look after Sonny. He doesn’t always keep his word, but he kept it at the end.
6. Not naming all the characters adds more emphasis on Sonny. It shows how much “Daddy” is thinking about him.
7. He has taken his life’s woes and experiences and incorporated it into his music.

“A Worn Path”
1. It was written with an objective point of view. The narrator tells the story without telling what a person’s thoughts were.
2. It’s ironic her name is Phoenix because a phoenix is a type of mythical bird that doesn’t exist. Throughout the story, she has visions of things that really aren’t there.
3. It adds a trippy effect. Every time I would encounter a moment when Phoenix was having a vision, I felt like I skipped a paragraph and had to go back to reread the page.
4. She is belittled. They treat her with courtesy, but talk to her like she’s a kid. It shows she was probably in a more northern state by a smaller town by how nicely they treated her.
5. The dog has energy. She wishes she were young and had the energy to get through the forest like him.
6. The saying has a larger relevance. It shows she’s beginning to get old and helpless in her old age. It is the onset of despair that she soon can’t help her grandson.

Word count- 350