Week 5 Discussion Choices

Discussion Questions, Week 5 (I posted an attachment of these in "Course Handouts".

1. Who do you think has power in “The Lottery”? WHY does this person(s) have power, and how is it articulated?

2. Consider the literary device foreshadowing. How does Jackson use foreshadowing to set up the climax and resolution in “The Lottery”?

3. Discuss one of the critical entries that deals with “The Lottery”, explaining how/why it informed your understanding of the interpretation of the story.

4. Discussion of the critical entries that deals with “The Yellow Wallpaper”, explaining how/why it informed your understanding of the interpretation of the story. Keep in mind that the contextual articles are largely historical (especially if you’re considering historicism as your methodology for your research paper).

5. The Glass Menagerie speaks to concepts of familial duty and loyalty. Consider how gendered roles affect each of the main character’s behaviors in light of such duty and loyalty.

6. “Critics are divided over Williams’s motivation in this play. Is he trying to get rid of Laura’s memory (based on his sister Rose, who went mad and whom he deserted), or is he replaying the traumatic leaving? Which makes the most sense to you? How do you read the last line, “Blow out your candles, Laura – and so good-bye . . .”? (392)

7. What does the play ultimately say about the duality freedom/confinement? While the play is located in the “Families” section, it seems to offer some interesting points on our concepts of freedom and confinement . . . and who is entitled to which.

8. Elizabeth Bishop’s “The Fish” is perhaps her best known and most “referred to” poem, in some respects because of the depth with which she is able to characterize the animal. Discuss what you find special, unique, successful in her narrative verse.

9. What is the effect of using a fourteen-year-old girl as the narrator in “In Response to Executive Order 9066”? In terms of impact, how does this differ than it might with her father as the narrative voice?

10. Diction is quite important in “Executive Order”. Consider word choice throughout – what does the girl characterize herself as, and, as such, in relationship to American/Japanese conflict, as evidenced through diction?

11. Explain what the title “Legal Alien” has to do with the poem’s content; this term appears to be an oxymoron on the surface. Explain also the different connotations of the word “alien” as implied in the poem.

12. The poem “Legal Alien” deals with postcolonial concepts of otherness. Explain this term and how it relates to the poem.