Two Stories with answers.

Sonny’s Blues
1. Sonny Blues is told from the perspective of Sonny’s brother. His views on life, from living better as an educator in Harlem makes him view Sonny as a familiar delinquent.
2. The Older brother teaches Algrebra. It suggests that he is hopeful, he is kind, perhaps wants children, and it suggests that he cares about his community.
3. Sonny would probably show his life being made that way without his help and that his fate was not just his fault.
4. He reads about how he is arrested in the Newspaper for heroin possession.
5. His mother asks him to look out for Sonny. The narrator hasn’t really until now and feels a deep sense of guilt for not being watchful of his younger brother.
6. Mama, Daddy, and Sonny are just first names and titles because the narrator is familiar with who he’s narrating to. There is no need for last names or for further detail for who he is. The point is the character, not their names.
7. Sonny has made music his story or his tale. He uses it as both vocal chords and a tapestry for painting what he knows and cares about, then who he is inside. Sonny describes it as inspirational and changes his perspective about it being foolish to pursue a career in something that is surrounded by drugs, trickery, and failure.

Welty Story.
1. What is the point of view used in this story? Explain.Third person point of view, because not an “I” or “We” is mentioned in the story. The third person point of view mostly watches Phoenix
2. What is the significance of the old woman being named phoenix?Phoenix is a mythical bird that is firey red. They are well known for being born over and over again. Phoenix is named this because she practices the same thing over and over again either because she has a sort of memory loss that causes her to repeat the same thing.
3. Welty presents Phoenix’s dreams and hallucinations as if they were as real as everything else she encounters. What does this technique contribute to the story’s effect?This technique allows us small glimpses into her past and why she does the things she does. It also allows her to speak and show us some of her character.
4.How would you characterize the way phoenix is viewed and treated by the white people? Does it give indication of setting or place?She viewed as being hopeless, foolish, and withered. It gives us an idea that perhaps she lives in the south or midsouth, possibly after reconstruction. Also the fact she has to walk through woods and barb wire indicates she lives somewhere in the country.
5. In paragraph 52, Phoenix laughs t the black dog “as if in admiration.” What does she admire about him, and what does this attitude tell us about her?She admires that he approaches her. This attitude tells us that’s she’s crazy. I’m not very sure what this black dog represents. Perhaps her race?
6. “With her hands on her knees, the old woman waited, silent, erect, and moitionless, just as if she were in armor”(paragraph 85). Is this comparision at the end of this sentence just a striking visual image, or does it have a larger relevance?It’s both a striking visual image, and the relevance is that she is unmoving in her thoughts in daily practices to continue going into town to buy medicine. Also her posture and her hands on her knees represent her bracing against the changing times.