Respond to each of the 5 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.
Kate Chopin “The Storm”
- Look at the progress of the storm through the five parts of the story, then trace the stages of the story’s plot. How does the progress of the storm parallel the developing plot? How does the weather help to create the story’s atmosphere? How would you characterize this atmosphere?
- In what respects does the storm cause the events of the story? List specific events that occur because of the storm. Is the presence of the storm essential to the story?
- In what sense does the storm act as a character in the story? What other aspects of setting are important to the story?
- The storm sets in motion the chain of events that lead to the characters’ adultery. Do you think the storm excuses the characters in any way from responsibility for their actions?
Tillie Olson “I Stand Here Ironing”
- “I Stand Here Ironing” focuses on incidents that took place in the “pre-relief, pre-WPA world” of the Depression (para. 9). In light of social, political, and economic changes that have occurred since the 1930s, do you think the events the story presents could occur today? Explain.
- The narrator is overwhelmed by guilt. What does she believe she has done wrong? What, if anything, do you think she has done wrong? Do you think she has been a good mother? Why or why not?
- Do you see the narrator as a victim limited by the times in which she lives? Do you agree with the narrator that Emily is “a child of her age, of depression, of war, of fear” (para. 55)? Or do you believe both women have some control over their own destinies, regardless of the story’s historical setting?
Charlotte Perkins Gilman “The Yellow Wallpaper”
- Consider the setting of the story, including the nursery. How does this outer world mirror the narrator’s situation and ordeal–her inner world? How does the narration mimic the narrator’s mental state? Consider her style of writing, what she includes, what she omits, and her tone.
- What is John’s attitude toward his wife, especially in terms of her illness? What words does he use to refer to her? While thinking about this issue, consider the symbolism of the “nursery.”
- Identify some of the ways in which the conflict between the narrator and her husband is established. Consider what the two characters represent. What are the narrator’s feelings toward her husband? How do they change throughout the story?
- Would you consider the woman in the story a reliable narrator? If not, how does this affect your reading of the story? How does the wallpaper function in the story? What purpose does it serve in the narrative and in understanding the narrator? What does the creeping figure in the wallpaper represent?
Sherman Alexie “This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona”
- In paragraph 1, readers are told that Victor lives on a reservation. What details elsewhere in the story establish this setting? What associations does this setting have for you? Do you think the story could take place anywhere else? In addition to various locations on the reservation, the story’s settings include an airplane, a trailer in Phoenix, and a road through Nevada. What does each of these settings contribute to the story’s plot? What do you think the story’s title means?
- How would you characterize the story’s mood or atmosphere? How do Thomas’s stories help to create this mood? How do they help to establish his character? Do the flashbacks to the two men’s childhood add something vital to the story? What purpose do these flashbacks serve?
- In Native American culture, the storyteller holds an important positions, telling tales that transmit and preserve the tribe’s basic beliefs. Do you think Thomas’s stories serve such a function? Or, do you think that he is, as Victor characterizes him, simply “the crazy storyteller who talked to dogs and cars, who listened to the wind and pine trees” (para. 170)?
Charles Baxter “Gryphon”
- In classical mythology, a gryphon (also spelled griffin) is a monster that has the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. Why is this story called “Gryphon”?
- Describe Miss Ferenczi’s physical appearance. Why is her appearance important to the story? How does it change as the story progresses?
- Is Miss Ferenczi a round or a flat character? Explain. In what sense is the narrator’s mother a foil for Miss Ferenczi?
- Are all of Miss Ferenczi’s “substitute facts” lies, or is there some truth in what she says? Is she correct when she says that substitute facts cannot hurt anyone? Could it be argued that much of what is taught in schools today could be viewed as “substitute facts”?
