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Question: The Yellow Wallpaper: Why are they living in this colonial mansion? What is its history? Does the heroine feel comfortable in the house?

11 Oct 2022,12:43 AM

 

Discussion Questions for “The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation Doesn’t Flash Red Anymore” by Sherman Alexie

 

  • Find examples of loss of culture and tradition within the text, and explain why Alexie might choose these examples to illustrate his central ideas. How might these examples “create distance between modern Indians and Indians/traditions of the past”?

 

  • On page 211, in the first column, second and third paragraphs, what’s the significance of the scene Victor describes beginning with, “It took…” to, “I missed everything.”?

 

  • Using the passage on 211, “I laughed, slapped my legs and knew I believed Adrian’s story more as it sounded less true.”, as an example of the Oral Tradition, find more examples that exemplify this style. Where are they? What do they do to your reading of the story, and is it a useful tool?  Why might he use them?

 

  • What symbols are present within the text? How do they play into Alexie’s content, theme, etc.?

 

  • Does Alexie give any indication of hope for the future? Yes, or no? Explain.

 

 

 

The Yellow Wallpaper

Discussion Questions

 

 

  1. Why are they living in this colonial mansion? What is its history?  Does the heroine feel comfortable in the house?

 

 

  1. What's the narrator's initial reaction and description of the wallpaper? How does her description of the wallpaper change?

 

 

  1. What is the central irony of the story?

 

 

  1. Who is Jennie? What's her function?

 

 

 

Half and Half (95-104).

 

  • How is the title of Amy Tan’s Half and Half significant to the story she tells? Half and Half refers to what within the story? I want you to find as many literal and figurative examples (and provide textual evidence) as you can within the story.

 

  • Read the first two paragraphs of the story (page 95) and the last page (104).

Fate and faith come up several times throughout the story.  What is the difference between the two?

Does one have anything to do with shaping the other?  Find textual evidence to support your assertion.

 

  • Half and Half contains a story within the story. Why has Tan arranged events this way? How does this arrangement help illuminate the themes in the story?

 

  • What themes arise from your reading of the story?

 

Expert answer

 

The yellow wallpaper is a story about a woman who is living in a colonial mansion with her husband. She feels uncomfortable in the house and starts to see things in the wallpaper that she doesn't like. The story is about her trying to get rid of the things she sees in the wallpaper.

 

The couple is living in the colonial mansion because the husband is a doctor and he was offered a job there. The history of the house is not really known, but it is thought that it may have been a mental hospital at some point. The heroine does not feel comfortable in the house, but she does not know why. She starts to see things in the wallpaper that she doesn't like, and she tries to get rid of them.

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