STORIES ASSIGNMENT
Respond to each of the 6 stories with 350+ words each (including direct quotes). Make sure to label the story and author that you are answering questions about. You should not re-write the questions but rather just label the story you are responding put your response/paragraphs underneath the title of the story.
For each post you should incorporate textual evidence as well as analysis and explanation about why you have the interpretation of the story that you do.
Jamaica Kincaid “Girl”
What is the effect of fairly precise household rules alternating with comments such as “on Sundays try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming”? What do you think of the mother? What do you think of the daughter? What do your answers to these questions suggest about the nature of this mother-daughter relationship?
What do you see as the central conflict in the story?
Consider gender. Is it possible to re-imagine the story as advice from father to son? What does this in turn suggest about expectations placed on women versus those placed on men?
Jean Rhys “I Used to Live Here Once”
Closely read Jean Rhys’s short story, “I Used to Live Here Once.” Reflect on the meaning of the last line of the story. What do you think that the girl “knew” for the “first time” at the end of the narrative? What evidence from the text leads you to think this?
Remember, be specific —the girl certainly has feelings of loneliness and senses being “out-of-place,” but what does she realize that makes her feel this way? What does she realize that makes her feel “out-of-place?”
Make an argument about what you believe that the girl “knew” for the “first time.” Be sure that you clearly enunciate a specific argument with a strong thesis and that you use appropriate evidence from the text to support your claims.
Kate Chopin “Story of an Hour”
“The Story of an Hour” is a very short story with little action or dialogue. do you see the length of this story as a strength or weakness? Explain.
Do you think Brently Mallard physically abused his wife? Did he love her? Did she love him? Exactly why was she so relieved to be rid of him? Can you answer any of these questions with certainty?
Was the story’s ending unexpected or were you prepared for it? What elements in the story foreshadow this ending?
What is the nature of the conflict in this story? Who, or what, do you see as Mrs. Mallard’s antagonist?
Toni Cade Bambara “The Lesson”
In what ways, specifically, is Miss Moore an outsider in her own community? Which of her beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors distance her from the children? From other adults in the community? Is she able to overcome these barriers to full communication with her students and with Sylvia in particular?
How, exactly, would you characterize Miss Moore? Can you identify attitudes and beliefs that connect her to African-American intellectual, political, or social movements of the late 1960s or early 1970s? (I realize that it may be difficult given that most of you were not born then, but you may have read about the period or seen movies about these decades, such as Selma.)
Why does Sylvia feel both anger and shame while looking at the F.A.O. Schwartz toy store on Fifth Avenue? What exactly is she angry about? Sylvia connects the shame that she feels upon entering the toy store to her feelings when she and Sugar “crashed” the Catholic church during a Mass. Why? How are these two events related and why does Bambara establish this connection?
Why, in your view, does Bambara choose to have Sylvia narrate the story instead of Miss Moore?
Why doesn’t Sylvia go with Sugar to spend the money at the end of the story? What exactly is she attempting to think through on her own?
Does her separation from her classmates and her desire to think things through alone indicate that she has learned or is beginning to learn the “lesson”? What is the lesson Bambara thinks she should learn?
William Faulkner “A Rose for Emily”
Emily is clearly the story’s protagonist. In the sense that he opposes her wishes, Homer is the antagonist. What other characters – or what larger forces – are in conflict with Emily?
Some critics have suggested that Miss Emily Grierson is a kind of symbol of the Old South, with its outdated ideas of chivalry, formal manners, and tradition. In what sense is she also a victim of those values?
The narrator of the story is an observer, not a participant. Who might this narrator be? Do you think the narrator is male or female? How do you suppose the narrator might know so much about Emily? Why do you think the narrator uses we instead of I?
This story takes place without a linear timeline – events are told out of order from the way they actually take place. Why do you suppose Faulkner presents these events out of their actual chronological order? And despite the story’s confusing sequence, many events are foreshadowed. How does foreshadowing enrich the story?
Shirley Jackson “The Lottery”
What associations does the word lottery have for you? Are they relevant to the story?
Tradition is very important to the townspeople in this story. Why do these people continue this tradition even though the consequences are deadly? Can you think of any traditions that also have a dangerous affect on people?
Were you surprised by the ending of the story? If not, at what point did you know what was going to happen? How does Jackson foreshadow the ending? Conversely, how does Jackson lull us into thinking that this is just an ordinary story with an ordinary town?
In what way does the setting affect the story? Does it make you more or less likely to anticipate the ending? What are some symbols in this story? Why is the “black box” battered, for example?
This story was published in 1948. Are there any cultural or historical events that Jackson might be commenting on here? Is this JUST a story about this particular time and place, or is she trying to say something important about human nature?
