The Things They Carried: “The Things They Carried” is a story about war. Do you think it is an antiwar story? Why or why not?

Answer each question thoroughly. 1/2-a full page each.

1. The Things They Carried: “The Things They Carried” is a story about war. Do you think it is an antiwar story? Why or why not?
2. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge: Ambrose Bierce was one of the few major authors to see combat during the Civil War. He served in the Ninth Regiment, Indiana Volunteers. What evidence can you provide that “he knows what he is talking about” in his telling of the story? Do you detect any bias in his writing, does he favor the Union over the Confederates, or is he seemingly impartial?
3. Everyday Use: What objects have the same symbolic value to you that the quilts have to Maggie? What gives these objects this value?
4. A Good Man is Hard to Find: Why do you think the grandmother tells The Misfit that she recognizes him? Why does she fail to realize the danger of her remark?
5. The Rocking Horse Winner: The rocking horse is an important literary symbol in the story. What possible meanings does the rocking horse suggest? In what ways does this symbol reinforce the story’s theme?
6. Sonny’s Blues: What does the mother tell the narrator about the father? What does she want most for the narrator to do with Sonny?
7. Hills Like White Elephants: What is the couple arguing about? How does the iceberg technique affect the way that you view the couple and the story?
8. A Rose for Emily: When asked at a seminar at the University of Virginia about the meaning of the title “A Rose for Emily,” Faulkner replied, “Oh, it’s simply the poor woman had no life at all. Her father kept her more or less locked up and then she had a lover who was about to quit her, she had to murder him. It was just ‘A Rose for Emily’-that’s all.” In another interview, asked the same question, he replied, “I pitied her and this was a salute, just as if you were to make a gesture, a salute, to anyone; to a woman you would hand a rose, as you would lift a cup of sake to a man.” What do you make of Faulkner’s responses? What else might the title suggest?
9. Araby: What epiphany does the narrator have at the end of the story and why?
10. Cathedral: The blind man is an old friend of the narrator’s wife. Why then does he focus on the narrator? In what ways is the narrator’s spiritual development the blind man’s gift to the narrator’s wife?
11. The Chrysanthemums: What change occurs in Elisa by the end of this story? Do you see this change as positive or negative?
12. The Yellow Wallpaper: Do you think that the narrator was mentally ill to begin with or did something else cause her to become mentally ill? Could her breakdown have been prevented at any point in the story?
13. The Swimmer: How does the passage of time deceive the reader (or at least Neddy) in the story?
14. Paul’s Case: Did Paul have potential to make something of himself based on his interests or not? Why?
15. October in the Railroad Earth: Do you think the narrator is capable of better things or is he stuck where he is no matter what? Why?

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