Answer all of the following in complete sentences and short paragraph format. Rely on textual evidence for support. Be sure to number all responses.
1.James Baldwin’s is known for his eloquent language and elegant style of writing. Choose a passage from “Sonny’s Blues” that is poetic, and, at the same time, captures the essence of the meaning of the story. Analyze the passage and its connection to Balwin’s theme.
2.What adjectives would you use to describe each of the brothers? How do their interests help depict their characters? Does either change during the course of the story? If so, how?
3.A main conflict in “The Family Supper” is the generational and cultural divide. The son and daughter struggle with establishing their own identity versus how much of their own lives to give up to make their father happy.
What actions do you think each family member will ultimately take?
4.Describe the father’s relationship in “The Family Supper” with his children.
Why does the father resent the son? Why does he resent his daughter?
5.What are the circumstances of Watanabe’s death in “A Family Supper”? Why does the father fail to reveal Watanabe’s murder of his own family? What are the circumstances of the mother’s death? How do these deaths create tension throughout the story?
6.In “Everyday Use” what are the mother’s outstanding traits, her weaknesses, and her strengths? How does she describe herself? How would you describe the narrator’s feelings about her daughter Dee? About her daughter Maggie?
7.How does the contrast between the two sisters’ appearances, personalities, lifestyles and feelings about the quilts help convey the story’s theme?
8.Why does the mother give the quilts to Maggie?
