DB STORY QUESTIONS: Paley A Conversation with My Father

DB
STORY QUESTIONS: Paley A Conversation with My Father (pp. 50 54)

Directions:
Choose one question
to answer from story (A) and answer the personal journal question below (B).
Dont forget that each response should be a minimum of 150 words. Here are some
ways to help your story writing response:
a. Always
use a piece of the question in your response: i.e., Paleys jokes seem to
be.
b. Use
quotes from the story itself to help strengthen your own response. But dont use long quotes from the story or just drop them in;
introduce the quote with a signal phrase: According to the narrator, story
quote (page no.)
c. Your
response should contain mainly YOUR WORDS.
d. Always comment
on one peers response when you have posted.

A. A
Conversation with My Father (CHOOSE ONE of the story questions and respond to
the personal question)

1. What do you
make of the jokes in Paleys story? Of the jokes in the narrators second
story? Are jokes out of place in a story about someone facing death?

2. Why is the
father impatient with the daughters statement that sometimes you just have to
let the story lie around till some agreement can be reached between you and the
stubborn hero (par. 26)? What is the difference between her conception of
characterization and his?

3. In the second,
comic version of the narrators story, the young man at first sees life through
the perspective of drugs. Drugs create the meaning in his life. Eventually, he
meets a woman who sees life through the perspective of health food, and he
adopts her perspective. Through what perspective does the father see the world?

B. EVERYONE
ANSWER:

Write about your
own experiences in conversing with a family member giving you advice. Do you
have a parent or grandparent (or aunt/uncle/older brother) who gives you advice
on how to live your life (or any part of it)? Furthermore, do you find that
anything you do or say still doesnt satisfy the family member? Or do you have
a family member who continually tells you what to do or not to do, even if it
doesnt seem very important at the time? Describe the family member and a conversation
that you may have had with the family member and try to break down not just
what they are suggesting but why they are suggesting it.
Ultimately, is this family member trying to help improve your life because they
care, or are they advising you for another reason? You can refer to Paleys
story if you want, although they are discussing her writing skills.

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