We Have Always Lived in the Castle
1)
Explain
the gothic elements of the story. What makes this story “gothic”? How does it
shape the story?
2)
The
relationship between the sisters has been looked at with a “feminist eye” by a
number of critics. Examine their relationship and how it could be considered
feminist?
3)
We
discussed the elements of magic and superstition in the novel in class; explain
how these two ideas have a role in the novel.
4)
Defend or refute the following statement: “The greatest evil in the book comes from Merricat’s
innocence, because she doesn’t yet have the experience that engenders empathy.”
Pafko at the Wall
1)
This novel has been described as “history (with a
lower case h) up against History”(with an uppercase H). Think about how DeLillo
engages the larger force of history through some element of Pafko at the Wall — find one element of
the narrative’s language, plot, character, or some other element and make a
case for how DeLillo uses that element to imagine or describe some sort of
counter history against the larger forces controlling the history of this
period.
2)
We spoke a lot about the influence of environment on
Cotter and Bill quite a bit in class for this story. Examine that chase scene
between the two characters and what we see going on there.
No comments:
Post a Comment