The Chrysanthemums

Possible prompts:

1. Why do you suppose Elisa dresses up in a special way to go into town?

2. Why do you suppose Elisa expresses interest in "the fights" (boxing matches)?

3. How well does Elisa's husband understand him?

4. Why do you suppose Elisa avoids looking at the caravan driven by the tinker (pot mender) while she and her husband are driving to town?

5. Why do you suppose Elisa cries at the end of the story?

Ivy Day in the Committee Room

Note: Charles Stewart Parnell was a great nineteenth century leader in Ireland, and fought in Parliament, with great but incomplete effectiveness, for Irish people to allowed to rule themselves. He withstood different attacks that left him looking all the more heroic. However, he had an affair with a married woman, and this led to the Catholic Church in Ireland attacking him; this attack led to great division in Ireland between the pro-Church faction and the pro-Parnell faction. At the time of the story, Parnell has been dead for some time. "Ivy Day" was an annual day of remembrance, on October 6, for Parnell by his supporters. In the story, the day occurs on the same day as a parliamentary election, and the characters are people working for a political party in Dublin, Ireland. Some of them may be full-time; some have been hired for the day.

1. How would you describe the atmosphere in this story?

2. If you had to identify a climax in this story, where would you locate it?

3. Would you describe this story as more objective, or more pro-Parnell?

4. Is there any aspect of the story that could be interpreted as symbolic? Discuss.

5.Or comment on an apect of the story of your own choosing.

An Upheaval

by Anton Chekhov

1. Given what we know about Mashenka, what would be so bad for her about having her room searched. She herself says that it's insulting; she worries that she might end up in prison. But why, psychologically, do you suppose she has such a strong reaction to her having had her room searched?

2. When she learns who really stole the brooch, she feels "she really could not stay another minute." Why do you suppose she has this reaction?

3. Can you come up with an explanation for Nikolay Sergeitch confessing his crive to Mashenka?

4. Is Nikolay Sergeitch a good person (a sympathetic character) or not, or somewhere in between?

The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield

The story is at http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/GardPart.shtml. Prompts to respond to (but feel free to come at the reading from some other angle):

1. How does the author build up our sympathy for the character of Laura (the main character)?

2. Can you find indications that Laura is a potential artist?

3. As the story goes along, she gets news of the death of one of the neighbors. Does she, as her mother thinks, over-react? Not in terms of the story; if the story were a real event, and you were a member of the household, would you side with Laura or with her mother? Why?

4. When Laura goes to bring food to the mourning family, why does she have such a difficult time?

5. At the end of the story, Laura's brother Laurie rescues her. Comment.

Paul's Case

1. What in the text would support the idea that Paul is a sympathetic character? Is there anything in the text that suggests he is not a sympathetic character?


2. How would you describe the author's style, compared to Jewett's in "A White Heron"? Compared to the stories of Garcia Marquez?


3. In different ways, Sylvia and Paul are confronted with challenges that require each to grow. Why doesn't music and art do for Paul what the heron does for Sylvia?

A White Heron

Remember, you may answer one of these prompts, or not, as long as you address some aspect of the story; you may respond to something someone has already said, but try not to repeat what someone else has said; read over what your classmates have written, and check back in later to see what people write after you.

1. Are there ways in which Sylvia's life is difficult or challenging?--before the arrival of the hunter, I mean

2. Are there ways in which Sylvia's life is a good one?

3. Sylvia feels love for certain non-human creatures. Can you get specific about what that love is like?

4. What in the story creates its dramatic tension?

Blacaman the Good

Same instructions as last time. Respond to one of the prompts, or say what you find it helpful to say about the story.

1. What connection(s) do you find between this story and either or both of the other two we have re-read so far ("The Handsomest Drowned Man . . ." and ". . .Enormous Wings")? Or is there a way in which this story seems significantly different?

2. Verbal irony could be defined as the use of words that mean what they say they mean while also meaning something else in a way both the speaker and audience agree on in an unspoken way. Can you find an example of irony in this story, and can you explain how the irony works?

3. What is a key moment in the story, and why?

A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings

Please write a paragraph responding to "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" before tomorrow's class. Please read the entries of your classmates that come before and after yours. Feel free to, but don't feel obliged to, respond to one of the following prompts:

1. What similarities do you find between this story and "The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World"? Be as specific as you can.

2. What differences do you find? Be as specific as you can.

3. The author sub-titled each of these stories "A Tale for Children." Comment.

4. Find what to you is the most intriguing, surprising, or best moment in the story and write about it.