Hemingway, "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place"
Alexie, "This is What it Means to Say..."
O'Brien, "The Things They Carried"
Directions: You are required to answer only one of the main questions, which will appear in bold. This question is due no later than Thursday, Sept. 15. Following the bold questions will be other questions which you should read and think about--they may help you answer the main question. However, you are not required to answer these questions in writing.
Please answer the question as thoughtfully as possible, after reading the lecture. Then post your answer to the English 102 Message Board by the deadline.
Your responses to other students' answers are due by midnight on Sunday, Sept. 18. In order to get the full 20 points, you MUST respond thoughtfully to at least 3 other people's postings.
We will be using the Canvas Discussion Board for this class. Click on the link below to get to the Canvas portal, sign in, and then click on the tab for this class. You will find the "Discussions" link on the left side of the screen:
Remember: This discussion question is worth a possible 20 points. Late answers will receive 0 points. Points will be assigned according to the thoughtfulness of your answer, not by whether it is "right" or not, since sometimes there is no "right" answer. Just be sure your ideas are supported by the material in the story (see Lecture 1).
"This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona"
What is Sherman Alexie saying in this story about the role of storytelling?
- How important is the setting in this story?
- What is the point of view? Why did Alexie choose this point of view?
- Who is the protagonist? The antagonist?
- Why doesn't anyone feel comfortable around Thomas Builds-the-Fire?
- Why can't Victor and Thomas be friends, despite all their shared experiences?
- Why does Thomas go to Phoenix with Victor?
(See background information just below the questions for this story)
What themes and ideas is Hemingway exploring in this story? How does he use style and symbolism to express these themes?
- Why are the lines of dialogue so brief? Why are the speakers so seldom identified? (For example, Hemingway very rarely uses phrases such as "he said" after a line of dialogue.)
- Hemingway repeats a lot of words and phrases throughout the story; identify some of these words and phrases. What is the purpose of such repetition?
- What do light and darkness symbolize in the story? Shadows? Why does the old waiter feel a "clean, well-lighted place" is preferable to a dirty, noisy bar?
- Is it insomnia that is keeping the old waiter awake? What does he have in common with the old man who tried to kill himself?
- The Spanish word "nada" means "nothing." What word does it replace in the Lord's Prayer (paragraph 76)? Where else do you find the words "nada" or "nothing"?
Note: This story was published in 1933, between World Wars I and II. Hemingway was living in Paris at this time and doing a lot of travelling in Europe. He saw and felt firsthand the effects of World War I and the severe economic and spiritual depression it caused. World War I was one of the bloodiest wars ever fought in Europe; the people of the countries on both sides were drawn in by patriotic propaganda, and their governments told them that the war would be over quickly and would result in huge victories and profits to them. But the war dragged on for four years, at tremendous cost. Europe was destroyed; a whole generation of young men died--nearly one third of all British young men, and nearly three fourths of all French and German young men. The suffering was horrible--and it became apparent that it was not for truth and justice, but for the prestige and profit of the leaders, who were quite willing to sacrifice the lives of their people for their own egotism. On paper, Germany and Austria lost the war, and England and France won. But the Treaty of Versailles, which set the terms for the surrender of Germany and Austria, created, not resolution, but hatred and more suffering, and set the stage for the rise of Hitler and the beginning of World War II.
One of the results of World War I was a loss of faith: people realized they could no longer trust their governments, and in the face of such pointless destruction, many could no longer trust their gods. People began to question every religious and social institution that had bound society together, and many came to the conclusion that no social or religious institution could be trusted--that, in fact, all of it was an illusion, including God.
One school of philosophy that incorporated this view was existentialism. There are different varieties of existentialism, but its basic belief is that there is no God, and therefore, life can have no inherent meaning. We are not put on earth for any purpose--our birth is an accident. There is no grand design to life--it is all chance. There is no order in the universe--it is all chaos. Our religions and our social structures are meant to help us avoid facing that terrifying truth.
But this does not mean that life must be meaningless. It simply means that we, ourselves, must determine what the purpose of our lives is. We must set our own standards and live by them. Thus, our principles and our actions are everything: if we fail to live up to our principles, then life is truly meaningless.
Hemingway subscribed, generally, to this theory. He believed that life was inherently meaningless, and that all we could do was set high standards and adhere to them with dignity--all the while knowing that this dignity is all that keeps us from falling into despair.
In this story, what point(s) is O'Brien making about the cost of war?
- What is the symbolic significance of Lt. Jimmy Cross's name?
- Why does O'Brien give so much detail about what the men carried?
- Why does he tell the reader at the beginning that Ted Lavender was shot? Doesn't this ruin the suspense?
- How was Lavender killed? Was this Cross's fault? Why does he take responsibility for it? That is, how does taking responsibility help him to cope with Lavender's death?
- Why does Cross burn Martha's letters?