CSN ENG 102: COMPOSITION II
JOURNAL RESPONSE ON DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
INSTRUCTOR: Y. BAILEY-KIRBY
Directions: You will be responding to each assigned reading from the writing by answering the questions and citing passages or
specific examples from the reading as supporting evidence. The journals should be typed, double-spaced with one inch margins and
be approximately a page (350 words is the minimum, so you will most likely exceed this amount.) for each story, play, or set of
poetry readings for one class session when you use a 12 size font. Of course, you can exceed the one page, but you should always
include your name, class name and section, the title of the poetry or play, the date, and word count as your heading at the top.
(Note: Hand-written responses will not be accepted, and you must respond to all sets of questions or your journal will not be
accepted. Therefore, do not say: I don’t know, but apply those critical thinking skills.)
DEATH OF A SALESMAN BY ARTHUR MILLER
1.
Willie and Biff are both accused of being “boys” instead of men (Biff even accuses himself of this). What are some concrete
details from the play that support this characterization? Do either one of the brothers change or grow by the end of the
play? Then, explore details in the play that suggest Willie’s lack of self-awareness, Biff’s main character flaw and why he
steals Bill Oliver’s pen, and Happy’s overdeveloped sense of competition. Are Willie and his sons simply idealistic,
optimistic, deluded, competitive, or immoral, etc? Why? Analyze whether the primary characters are dynamic or static.
2.
A simplistic conclusion to draw about Willie is that he’s suffering because of senility or Alzheimer’s. However, you will want
to develop a more complex interpretation of the play that demonstrates how Willie’s problems are psychological rather
than physical—that he’s suffering from emotional distress rather than physical disease. For example, why does Willy kill
himself? Why did Willy refuse Charley’s numerous offers of a job? Why is Willy’s perception of Biff consistently inaccurate?
3.
Consider Willie’s brother, Ben. “I went into the jungle at the age of 17 and came out at the age of 21. And, by God, I was
rich!” What does this boast tell us about Ben’s character? In one scene he “blindsides” Biff, saying, “Never fight fair, boy.
You’ll never get out of the jungle that way.” From this incident and other details in the play, what can you infer about Ben’s
moral code? Is it his personal, individual code, or does it seem to reflect American culture in some larger, broader way?
How do Ben’s morals compare to Willie’s? Does Willie misinterpret or distort Ben’s example or was it corrupt to begin with?
4.
Linda is left alone at the end of the play, standing with her children and Charley by Willie’s grave. In her last moments with
him, she confesses that she simply doesn’t understand why he’s left her alone. The last image is of her lifting her hands in
question. Why hasn’t her steadfast love been able to see Willie through? Does the audience understand what Linda doesn’t
(dramatic irony)? In what ways has Linda been blind about Willie?
5.
When Biff defines himself as a “$1.00/hr. man” and Willie as just another “hard working drummer who fell on the ash
heap,” is he being fair to himself and Willie? Is he seeing the truth, or is he deliberately pouring acid on Willie’s dreams? Biff
insists that Willie never “knew himself.” Do you agree with him? Why or why not?
6.
Why does Willie insist that the basis of success is to be “well-liked”? Is he right or wrong? His whole life he’s strived to be
loved, but has had very little success—especially professionally. What about this philosophy makes Willie especially
vulnerable as a salesman? What role has his childhood played in his emotional weakness? How has this weakness led to
tragedy?
7.
What role do the other minor characters play? For example, in what way does the father/son relationship shared by Charley
and Bernard provide a foil (a provocative contrast) for the relationship between Willie and Biff? What is the significance of
the woman whom Willie has an affair with? Who was Singleman and what impact does he have on Willie as a salesman?
8.
Some have accused Arthur Miller of writing an overly depressing play. Miller’s reply is to the effect that he’s sorry if the
salvation of the son isn’t satisfying enough for some people. Do you think Biff is saved at the end of Death of a Salesman?
Why or why not? Is Willie’s death at the end of the play “depressing” or “tragic”?
9.
In the Poetics, Aristotle makes the point that dramatic art stems from the instinct of imitation and the instinct for harmony.
Art imitates reality, but provides an ordering, a harmony. He maintains that “in the finest kind of tragedy the structure
should be complex…represent[ing] terrible and piteous events” (CBIL, p. 1092). When “good people” suffer, the audience is
repulsed; on the other hand if “bad people” prosper we find little to sympathize with. Tragedy should elicit our
sympathies—it should “stir pity and fear”(1092). In order to do this, a play must present a hero who seems neither purely
good nor purely evil, but someone who falls ambiguously in between. Real people readily identify with this mixture, making
it more likely that we’ll feel pity for the person who suffers seemingly undeservedly. An “excellent” plot is one in which the
hero’s fortune changes for the worse because of some great, tragic mistake (the hero’s tragic flaw), as opposed to mere
coincidence or interference from divine sources (deux ex machina). How might Death of a Salesman be considered a
tragedy in Aristotle’s sense of the word? Does it present “terrible and piteous events”? Is the play “cathartic” in that it
moves the audience to feel both pity and fear? Can any of the characters, especially Willie, be considered a tragic character
according to Aristotle’s definition?
10. Aristotle maintains that characters should have four qualities: (1) goodness—their dialogue reveals their moral choices, and
they choose good over evil; (2) appropriateness (i.e., their characteristics don’t challenge our deeply-held assumptions or
expectations; men are “masculine” and women are “feminine,’ for example; (3) verisimilitude—they are lifelike rather than
superhuman; we can believe they might be real people; and (4) consistency—once a character’s traits are established
he/she should not act unexpectedly “out of character. Analyze Willie’s character in light of Aristotle’s criteria. What are his
moral choices? Does he make the “good” choice? Is Willie’s behavior “appropriate” (within a range of expectations, does he
act like a husband and a father is “supposed” to act)? Is Willie a life-like, believable character? What are some of his traits,
his individual ways of thinking, speaking, or behaving that remain consistent throughout the play? What do you learn about
the “American dream” through Willie’s character?
CSN ENG 102: COMPOSITION II
JOURNAL RESPONSE ON DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
INSTRUCTOR: Y. BAILEY-KIRBY
Directions: You will be responding to each assigned reading from the writing by answering the questions and citing passages or
specific examples from the reading as supporting evidence. The journals should be typed, double-spaced with one inch margins and
be approximately a page (350 words is the minimum, so you will most likely exceed this amount.) for each story, play, or set of
poetry readings for one class session when you use a 12 size font. Of course, you can exceed the one page, but you should always
include your name, class name and section, the title of the poetry or play, the date, and word count as your heading at the top.
(Note: Hand-written responses will not be accepted, and you must respond to all sets of questions or your journal will not be
accepted. Therefore, do not say: I don’t know, but apply those critical thinking skills.)
“OZYMANDIAS” BY PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY
HELPFUL SUMMARY: According to the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus, Ozymandias was apparently a grand, poeticized name
claimed for himself by the Egyptian pharaoh Rameses II. Diordorus Siculus saw the king’s ninety-foot-tall statue for himself, carved
by the sculptor Memonon, in the first century B.C. when it was still standing at the Ramesseum in Thebes, a mortuary temple.
Shelley and his friend Horatio Smith had read a description of the shattered statue in Richard Pococke’s Description of the East
(1742). Smith and Shelley wrote sonnets expressing their imagined views of the wreckage, both of which Leigh Hunt printed in his
periodical the Examiner in 1818. Therefore, when reading the poem, a topic of critical thinking or reading is the irony of plot here.
Ozymandias believed that he created enduring works, but his intentions came to nothing. However, another is also present: How are
his words, in a way he did not intend, true? However, lines 4-8 are somewhat obscure, but the gist is that the passions--still evident
in the shattered visage”--survive the sculptor’s hand that “mocked”--that is, (1) imitated or copied, (2) derided--them and the
passions also survive the king’s heart that had nourished them.
“RICHARD CORY” BY EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON
HELPFUL SUMMARY: Many connotations evoke the world of aristocracy, such words as “gentleman,” “crown,” “imperially,”
“arrayed,” “glittered,” “rich,” “king,” and “grace.” Even the name “Richard Cory” is rich in connotations, for it suggests Richard
Coeur de Lion. The envious speaker looks up to Cory as a commoner to an aristocrat or royalty. Robinson’s truth, of course, is that
we envy others their wealth and prestige and polished manners, but if we could see into their hearts we might not envy them. So,
the poem makes one consider questions on life: “Money can’t make you happy?” or “If you’re poor you’re really better off than rich
people?” The end poem ends in Cory’s despair and suicide.
“WHEN I WAS ONE-AND-TWENTY” BY A.E. HOUSMAN
HELPFUL SUMMARY: The two stanzas of this poem present a before-and-after image of a young lad who has learned about the
sorrows of love. In the first stanza, the speaker is only twenty-one. He hears a wise man’s warning not to fall in love, but he ignores
it. In the second stanza, a year later, the speaker hears the same warning, but by now he has had an unhappy experience of love. He
recognizes the truth of the wise man’s warning. In each case, the wise man depicts love as giving away something vital, some part of
oneself, and getting only sorrow in return.
ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What is the central idea being conveyed in each poem. Identify a theme and the meaning of each poem.
Identify any characters in each poem and what role do they seem to be playing? Who seems to be the speaker/narrator
(male, female, older or younger person, etc…) and what message do they provide the reader? Identify the tone that the
speaker/narrator uses (i.e. sarcastic, melancholy, etc.).
Is there a setting (time/place)? What plot/events seem to be taking place within each poem? Is there a conflict or question
raised, and if so, what is the answer or resolution?
What imagery is being used in each poem? Identify a work, phrase, and/or figure of speech that addressed the senses,
suggesting mental pictures/images of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, feelings, or actions? What emotion or mood is
conveyed to the reader through the imagery used in each poem?
What examples of metaphors, similes, personification, irony, overstatement and/or understatement can you identify? Does
there seem to be a specific meter or rhyme? What symbols do they use in each poem? How does their use of figurative
language, symbolism, and/or rhyme or meter help to understand the central idea of each poem. [If you have trouble
identifying any one of these, DO NOT WRITE: “I have no idea”; instead, ask yourself what two things are being compared
(simile/metaphor)? Is anything being exaggerated to show overstatement/hyperbole? Is any inanimate object being given
human characteristic to show personification?]
CSN ENG 102: COMPOSITION II
JOURNAL RESPONSE ON DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
INSTRUCTOR: Y. BAILEY-KIRBY
Directions: You will be responding to each assigned reading from the writing by answering the questions and citing passages or
specific examples from the reading as supporting evidence. The journals should be typed, double-spaced with one inch margins and
be approximately a page (350 words is the minimum, so you will most likely exceed this amount.) for each story, play, or set of
poetry readings for one class session when you use a 12 size font. Of course, you can exceed the one page, but you should always
include your name, class name and section, the title of the poetry or play, the date, and word count as your heading at the top.
(Note: Hand-written responses will not be accepted, and you must respond to all sets of questions or your journal will not be
accepted. Therefore, do not say: I don’t know, but apply those critical thinking skills.)
“THE ROAD NOT TAKEN” BY ROBERT FROST
HELPFUL SUMMARY: Robert Frost often said “The Road Not Taken” was about himself combined with Edward Thomas, a Welsh
poet and good friend. The choice of roads suggests Frost’s personal choice of careers, but also, in Robert Frost: the Years of Triumph,
biographer Laurance Thompson tells about the “excruciations through which this dour Welshman Thomas went each time he was
required to make a choice.” This amused Frost, who once said to Thomas, “No matter which road you take, you’ll always sight and
wish you’d taken another.” “The Road Not Taken” (originally called “Two Roads”) was apparently written to poke quiet fun at this
failing. When Frost sent the poem in a letter to Thomas, the Welshman apparently missed the joke. Still, the poem is about decisionmaking and speculating about life choices: marriage, children, a job, relocation, etc. The two roads are aptly symbolic of the choices
we have to make almost every day of our lives. As in Pilgrim’s Progress, a road or a journey on it I a traditional and conventional
symbol for life; a fork or crossroads, a decision or turning-point. Therefore, the poem suggests that the sigh is not regret for the way
life has turned out but for the severe limitations life imposes on our desire to explore its possibilities, yet Frost affirms his choice as
making all the difference in the world and not a negative one.
“TO THE VIRGINS, TO MAKE MUCH OF TIME” BY ROBERT HERRICK
HELPFUL SUMMARY: Carp diem (Latin: “seize the day”) is the theme. But if we want to get the full force of the poem, we must
understand who is talking to whom. Look, for example, at “Old Time” in line 2. Time is “old” in the sense of having been around a
long while, but doesn’t “old” in this context suggest also that the speaker regards. Time with easy familiarity, almost affection? We
visit the old school, and our friend is old George. Time is destructive, yes, and the speaker urges the young maidens to make the
most of their spring, but the speaker is neither bitter nor importunate; rather, he seems to be the wise old man, the counselor, the
man who has made his peace with Time and is giving advice to the young. Time moves rapidly in the poem (the rosebud of line 1 is
already a flower in line 3), but the speaker is unhurried; in line 5 he has leisure to explain that the glorious lamp of heaven is the sun.
In “To the Virgins,” the pauses, indicated by punctuation as the ends of the lines (except in line11, where we tumble
without stopping from “worst” to “Times”), slow the reader down. But even if there is no punctuation at the end of a line of poetry,
the reader probably pauses slightly or gives the final word an additional bit of emphasis. Similarly, the space between stanzas slows
a reader down, increasing the emphasis on the last word of one stanza and the first word of the next.
Roses would have suited Herrick’s iambic meter--why is rose-buds richer? Rosebuds are flowers not yet mature, and
therefore suggest virgins, not matrons. There may be a sexual hint besides: rosebuds more resemble private parts than roses. But in
this poem, time flies, the rosebuds of line 1 bloom in line 3. “Rosebuds” is also rhythmically stronger than roses (it has a secondary
stress as well as a primary).
“TO HIS COY MISTRESS” BY ANDREW MARVELL
HELPFUL SUMMARY: All this poet does is feed someone a line about there’s no time for romance, so he says, “Quick, let’s hit the
bed before we hit the dirt.” He tries to sum up the terrible truth that he knows: that time lays waste to youth, that life passes before
we know it. Having read the poem, you may find it odd to know that Marvel was a Puritan but doesn’t necessarily express puritanical
views in this poem. To get a nearly accurate paraphrase, you can take the poem into the three divisions that follow.



LINE 1-20: If we had all the room in the world and if we were immortal, then our courtship might range across the globe.
My love for you could expand till it filled the world and I could spend centuries in praising your every feature (saving your
heart for last). After all, such treatment is only what you deserve.
LINE 21-32: But time runs on. Soon we’ll be dead and gone, all my passion and all your innocence vanished.
LINE 33-46: And so, while you’re still young and willing, let’s seize the day. Let’s concentrate our pleasure into the present
moment. Although we can’t make the sun stand still (like Joshua in the Bible), we’ll do the next best thing: we’ll joyously
make time fly. In lines 37-44, Marvel’s point seems to be that time works a gradual, insidious violence, so Marvel isn’t
urging violence. Rather, it is like a devouring beast (slow-chapped), holding us in its inexorable jaws. Violence (birds of prey
who want to eat, not be eating or the cannonball of strength and sweetness that batter’s life iron gates) is not the speaker’s
counsel, but urgency. His harsh images lend his argument intensity and force.
In defining “enough” enough time, Marvell bounds it by events (the conversion of the Jews), numbers the years, and blocks out his
piecemeal adoration. Two-hundred years per breast is a delectable statistic! Clearly, the lover doesn‘t take the notion of such slow
and infinitely patient devotion to seriously. Marvel urges action and the theme of carp diem (Latin: “seize the day”). As you reread
the poem, consider some figures of speech. There’s hyperbole in lines 7-20, understatement (“but none, I think, do there embrace”),
metaphors, simile, and of course the great personification of chariot-driving time.
ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What is the central idea being conveyed in each poem. Identify a theme and the meaning of each poem.
Identify any characters in each poem and what role do they seem to be playing? Who seems to be the speaker/narrator
(male, female, older or younger person, etc…) and what message do they provide the reader? Identify the tone that the
speaker/narrator uses (i.e. sarcastic, melancholy, etc.).
Is there a setting (time/place)? What plot/events seem to be taking place within each poem? Is there a conflict or question
raised, and if so, what is the answer or resolution?
What imagery is being used in each poem? Identify a work, phrase, and/or figure of speech that addressed the senses,
suggesting mental pictures/images of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, feelings, or actions? What emotion or mood is
conveyed to the reader through the imagery used in each poem?
What examples of metaphors, similes, personification, irony, overstatement and/or understatement can you identify? Does
there seem to be a specific meter or rhyme? What symbols do they use in each poem? How does their use of figurative
language, symbolism, and/or rhyme or meter help to understand the central idea of each poem. [If you have trouble
identifying any one of these, DO NOT WRITE: “I have no idea”; instead, ask yourself what two things are being compared
(simile/metaphor)? Is anything being exaggerated to show overstatement/hyperbole? Is any inanimate object being given
human characteristic to show personification?]
CSN ENG 102: COMPOSITION II
JOURNAL RESPONSE ON DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
INSTRUCTOR: Y. BAILEY-KIRBY
Directions: You will be responding to each assigned reading from the writing by answering the questions and citing passages or
specific examples from the reading as supporting evidence. The journals should be typed, double-spaced with one inch margins and
be approximately a page (350 words is the minimum, so you will most likely exceed this amount.) for each story, play, or set of
poetry readings for one class session when you use a 12 size font. Of course, you can exceed the one page, but you should always
include your name, class name and section, the title of the poetry or play, the date, and word count as your heading at the top.
(Note: Hand-written responses will not be accepted, and you must respond to all sets of questions or your journal will not be
accepted. Therefore, do not say: I don’t know, but apply those critical thinking skills.)
“OH , MY LOVE IS LIKE A RED, RED ROSE” BY ROBERT BURNS
HELPFUL SUMMARY: Figures of speech abound in this famous lyric by Burns, similes (lines 1-2, 3-4), a metaphor (sands o’ life, 12),
overstatement (8 and 9, 10), and possibly another overstatement in the last line. He compares his love and passion to the deepest
red rose (a symbol for love, but as it is beautiful, it has thorns) and with overstatements, he tries to reassure her that his love is
eternal so therefore surpassing time (“I will love thee still, my dear, while the sands o’ life shall run“) and she is the only one (“my
only love”) just as he is leaving without indicating an exact time that he will return and yet not even a thousand miles will prevent
him from coming back at some point (“And fare thee, weel, awhile! /And I will come again, my love /Though it were ten thousand
mile.”)
“SHALL I COMPARE THEE TO A SUMMER’S DAY” BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
HELPFUL SUMMARY: Shakespeare’s sonnet is rich in metaphor, personification, and hyperbole, and if you juxtapose line 4: “And
summer’s lease hath all too short a date” to line 9: “But they eternal summer shall not fade,” the meaning conveyed is that
summer’s beauty is limited to a season while the object of his affection’s beauty will be immortalized through his poem when he
says at the end, “So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, /So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.”
“MY MISTRESS’ EYES ARE NOTHING LIKE THE SUN” BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
HELPFUL SUMMARY: Shakespeare explains that he can't make false comparisons about his mistress. He's been with her a long time
and knows her well. Though her eyes are nothing like the sun, it is of no consequence because he knows that his love for her is rare.
He prefers to show his love for her through his actions rather than through false words. He expresses the reality that one’s breath or
other physical traits aren’t always perfect or flawless, and over time, the attraction that brings people closer can wane because
physical attraction isn’t constant or stable, so a couple needs much more to remain together. Although the sonnet appears to be
negative, it has positive words towards the end when he clarifies that he doesn’t make false comparisons about her to know that in
his heart he has intense, tremendous love for her. Some may utter false words, but he doesn’t need to because he accepts as she is
and is truly in love with her.
ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What is the central idea being conveyed in each poem. Identify a theme and the meaning of each poem.
Identify any characters in each poem and what role do they seem to be playing? Who seems to be the speaker/narrator
(male, female, older or younger person, etc…) and what message do they provide the reader? Identify the tone that the
speaker/narrator uses (i.e. sarcastic, melancholy, etc.).
Is there a setting (time/place)? What plot/events seem to be taking place within each poem? Is there a conflict or question
raised, and if so, what is the answer or resolution?
What imagery is being used in each poem? Identify a work, phrase, and/or figure of speech that addressed the senses,
suggesting mental pictures/images of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, feelings, or actions? What emotion or mood is
conveyed to the reader through the imagery used in each poem?
What examples of metaphors, similes, personification, irony, overstatement and/or understatement can you identify? Does
there seem to be a specific meter or rhyme? What symbols do they use in each poem? How does their use of figurative
language, symbolism, and/or rhyme or meter help to understand the central idea of each poem. [If you have trouble
identifying any one of these, DO NOT WRITE: “I have no idea”; instead, ask yourself what two things are being compared
(simile/metaphor)? Is anything being exaggerated to show overstatement/hyperbole? Is any inanimate object being given
human characteristic to show personification?]
CSN ENG 102: COMPOSITION II
JOURNAL RESPONSE ON DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
INSTRUCTOR: Y. BAILEY-KIRBY
Directions: You will be responding to each assigned reading from the writing by answering the questions and citing passages or
specific examples from the reading as supporting evidence. The journals should be typed, double-spaced with one inch margins and
be approximately a page (350 words is the minimum, so you will most likely exceed this amount.) for each story, play, or set of
poetry readings for one class session when you use a 12 size font. Of course, you can exceed the one page, but you should always
include your name, class name and section, the title of the poetry or play, the date, and word count as your heading at the top.
(Note: Hand-written responses will not be accepted, and you must respond to all sets of questions or your journal will not be
accepted. Therefore, do not say: I don’t know, but apply those critical thinking skills.)
“BECAUSE I COULD NOT STOP FOR DEATH” BY EMILY DICKINSON
HELPFUL SUMMARY: For the poet, death and immortality go together. Dickinson is amplifying her metaphor of Death as a
gentleman taking a woman for a drive. Immortality, as would have been proper in Amherst during her lifetime, is their chaperone.
Consider what‘s implied by “Carriage“ and “House“ (we touch upon it in the class discussion) as well as the tone behind her own
worldly busyness in the opening lines. It‘s a seriousness enlivened with a delicate macabre humor. However, “Quivering” and “Cold”
foreshadow the images of the grave, and not Death but immortality is Dickinson’s subject, so eternity is timeless when she observes
it has been perhaps centuries since Death first stopped to pick her up but it did not mean it was the end. Life is measured by time
and there are limits, but now, she’s in eternity with no time limits. Some scholars have said that the poet seems to assert a triumph
possible only because she has renounced the proposal of Death, that threatening gentleman caller who might have married her (or
our human ideas proposing that death is something to be feared which she seems to have renounced). Death isn’t feared, for
immortality has no time limit from the place that she’s speaking now.
“DEATH BE NOT PROUD” BY JOHN DONNE
HELPFUL SUMMARY: This poem develops a paradox. Personifying death, the poet accuses him of being proud of his destructive
power, but he elaborates how death is far from fearful. Death is an abstract figure to be pitied, for we shall live forever while death
itself dies. The poet states that in reality death has no power, because while death takes us from life, as sleep takes us from
wakefulness, it releases us to eternity. Also, Donne invokes the literary term known as apostrophe, where a speaker will address a
non-human entity, as if it were a part of the conversation. Donne verbally assaults death and overthrows it, so death is something to
be pitied because he is literally called death, yet he cannot cause death in any sense, a tragic irony.
ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS:
1.
2.
What is the central idea being conveyed in each poem. Identify a theme and the meaning of each poem.
Identify any characters in each poem and what role do they seem to be playing? Who seems to be the speaker/narrator
(male, female, older or younger person, etc…) and what message do they provide the reader? Identify the tone that the
speaker/narrator uses (i.e. sarcastic, melancholy, etc.).
3. Is there a setting (time/place)? What plot/events seem to be taking place within each poem? Is there a conflict or question
raised, and if so, what is the answer or resolution?
4. What imagery is being used in each poem? Identify a work, phrase, and/or figure of speech that addressed the senses,
suggesting mental pictures/images of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, feelings, or actions? What emotion or mood is
conveyed to the reader through the imagery used in each poem?
5. What examples of metaphors, similes, personification, irony, overstatement and/or understatement can you identify? Does
there seem to be a specific meter or rhyme? What symbols do they use in each poem? How does their use of figurative
language, symbolism, and/or rhyme or meter help to understand the central idea of each poem. [If you have trouble
identifying any one of these, DO NOT WRITE: “I have no idea”; instead, ask yourself what two things are being compared
(simile/metaphor)? Is anything being exaggerated to show overstatement/hyperbole? Is any inanimate object being given
human characteristic to show personification?]
CSN ENG 102: COMPOSITION II
JOURNAL RESPONSE ON DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
INSTRUCTOR: Y. BAILEY-KIRBY
Directions: You will be responding to each assigned reading from the writing by answering the questions and citing passages or
specific examples from the reading as supporting evidence. The journals should be typed, double-spaced with one inch margins and
be approximately a page (350 words is the minimum, so you will most likely exceed this amount.) for each story, play, or set of
poetry readings for one class session when you use a 12 size font. Of course, you can exceed the one page, but you should always
include your name, class name and section, the title of the poetry or play, the date, and word count as your heading at the top.
(Note: Hand-written responses will not be accepted, and you must respond to all sets of questions or your journal will not be
accepted. Therefore, do not say: I don’t know, but apply those critical thinking skills.)
“THE STORY OF AN HOUR” BY KATE CHOPIN
1. Summarize the plot in three sentences minimum by answering a, b, and c. (a. What happens in the story? b. What’s the conflict?
c. How is the conflict resolved or how does it affect everyone in the story?) Also, identify the chief characters, their traits, and the
role that they play, and what you think is the central idea or theme of this story.
2. The story’s basic exposition is presented in its first two paragraphs. What additional information about character or setting would
you like to know? Why do you suppose the writer does not supply this information? It is a very economical story, with little action
or dialogue. Is this a strength or weakness? Explain.
3. Define the meaning or the significance of the reference to the following terms and phrases from “The Story of an Hour” by Kate
Chopin: ELIXIR OF LIFE, JOY THAT KILLS, MALLARD, and “FREE, FREE, FREE.” What do they mean or symbolize?
4. When “The Story of an Hour” was first published in Vogue magazine in 1894, the magazine’s editors titled it “The Dream of an
Hour.” A film version, echoing the last words of the story, is called The Joy That Kills. Which of the three titles do you believe
most accurately represents what happens in the story? What emotions does Mrs. Mallard experience during the hour she spends
alone in her room? What events do you imagine take place during this same period outside her room? Outside her house?
5. What do you make of Mrs. Mallard’s thoughts in paragraph 14? (What sort of relationship did Mrs. Mallard have with her
husband? Did she love him? Did he abuse her? Why exactly was she relieved to be rid of him? What sort of man was he? What in
the story gives you that impression? What sort of life did she feel she would have with the news of his death? What in the story
gives you that impression?) Can you answer any of these questions with certainty?
6. Was the story’s ending unexpected, or were you prepared for it? What elements foreshadowed this ending? Do you find the
story’s ending satisfying? Believable? Contrived?
“A & P” BY JOHN UPDIKE
1. Summarize the plot in three sentences. (a. What happens in the story? b. What’s the conflict? c. How is the conflict resolved or
how does it affect everyone in the story?) Also, identify the chief characters, their traits, and the role that they play, and what
you think is the central idea or theme of this story.
2. Consider the attitude expressed toward the girls by both Sammy and Lengel. Whose attitude do you find more appealing? Why?
Do you object to Sammy’s (and perhaps Updike’s) language in describing Queenie--her name, her “white prima donna legs,” her
“two scoops of vanilla”? Do you think Sammy is a male chauvinist pig? Why, or why not? And if you think he is, do you find the
story offensive? Again, why or why not?
3. Characterize Sammy’s style of telling his story. What do you learn about him from the kind of language he uses? From the details
he includes? From the comparisons he employs to describe the store, the girls, and the other shoppers? Cite specific descriptions
as examples. In what sort of community is this A & P located?
4. In the last line of the story, Sammy says, “I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter.” Do you think the world is
going to be hard to Sammy? Why, or why not? And if it is going to be hard for him, is this because of a virtue or a weakness in
Sammy? Whose values does the story seem to endorse? Whose values are criticized? How do you know? How do you see
Sammy’s decisive action? As heroic? As silly? Something else? Why?
CSN ENG 102: COMPOSITION II
JOURNAL RESPONSE ON DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
INSTRUCTOR: Y. BAILEY-KIRBY
Directions: You will be responding to each assigned reading from the writing by answering the questions and citing passages or
specific examples from the reading as supporting evidence. The journals should be typed, double-spaced with one inch margins and
be approximately a page (350 words is the minimum, so you will most likely exceed this amount.) for each story, play, or set of
poetry readings for one class session when you use a 12 size font. Of course, you can exceed the one page, but you should always
include your name, class name and section, the title of the poetry or play, the date, and word count as your heading at the top.
(Note: Hand-written responses will not be accepted, and you must respond to all sets of questions or your journal will not be
accepted. Therefore, do not say: I don’t know, but apply those critical thinking skills.)
“A ROSE FOR EMILY” BY WILLIAM FAULKNER
1.
Summarize the plot in three sentences. (a. What happens in the story? b. What’s the conflict? c. How is the conflict resolved
or how does it affect everyone in the story?) Also, identify the chief characters, their traits, and the role that they play, and
what you think is the central idea or theme of this story.
2.
Although “A Rose for Emily” is narrated in the first person, the narrator is not “I” but “we.” The narrator thus represents a
communal rather than an individual point of view. How do the narrator and the townsfolk view the young Miss Emily? How
does Miss Emily change with time? How does the town? How does the narrator’s view of Miss Emily change? How does
yours? Find passages that represent more than one view of her, and explain their significance. How does the perception we
gain of her through observing her in dialogue and with other characters in action compare with the narrator’s view?
3.
The way a writer chooses words, arranges them in sentences and longer units of discourse, and exploits their significance
determines his or her style. Style is the verbal identity of a writer, and reflecting this individuality, the writers’ styles convey
their unique way of seeing the world. Faulkner’s dense, richly textured prose contrasts with the different styles we will be
reading during our fiction section, and if you were to look at the third paragraph as one example or other words and phrases
such as “jalousies,” “virulent,” “noblesse oblige,” “valance,” “cuckolded,” “sibilant,” “macabre,” “bier,” and “acrid pall,” what
do you think his artfully controlled rhythms and constructions create through balanced phrasing and eloquence? How does is
contribute to his tone when he uses repetition of words (ex: “Had loaned money to the town, which the town”) or the heavy
reliance on pauses within the first and third sentences of the third paragraph, or finally, how does the play of sound,
alliteration and assonance, especially in “dating from that day” and “dispensation dating from the death,” effect your
appreciation of language and style as well as understanding of its significance to the story?
4.
Part of the effectiveness of “A Rose for Emily” comes from its surprise ending. How effective do you find the ending? Why?
What examples of foreshadowing can you cite that hinted at the ending?
“BATTLE ROYAL” BY RALPH ELLISON
1.
Summarize the plot in three sentences. (a. What happens in the story? b. What’s the conflict? c. How is the conflict resolved
or how does it affect everyone in the story?) Also, identify the chief characters, their traits, and the role that they play, and
what you think is the central idea or theme of this story.
2.
What does the narrator mean when he declares at the end of the opening paragraph, “I am an invisible man?” Explain how
the events described in the story taught him this painful truth. This story is a powerful, indeed shocking study of racism, but
in essays and interviews, Ellison often noted that he intended his stories and his novel Invisible Man to illuminate “universal
truths” about human experience as well. In your view, does “Battle Royal” achieve this goal? What insights does it offer
about the nature of self-knowledge and human identity?
3.
What is the significance of the scene involving the naked blonde woman? How is this scene related to the narrator’s
discovery that he is invisible? What does the naked blonde woman symbolize? What other symbols can you identify and
what do they mean?
4.
The narrator says of his grandfather’s dying speech, “I could never be sure of what he meant.” What do you think the
grandfather meant by calling himself a traitor and a spy in the enemy’s territory? Does he follow his grandfather’s advice to
be a traitor? Why or why not? Explain. Also, at the end, he has a dream about his grandfather: What does the dream
represent and what does his grandfather’s message in the dream mean for the narrator? Explain.
CSN ENG 102: COMPOSITION II
JOURNAL RESPONSE ON DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
INSTRUCTOR: Y. BAILEY-KIRBY
Directions: You will be responding to each assigned reading from the writing by answering the questions and citing passages or
specific examples from the reading as supporting evidence. The journals should be typed, double-spaced with one inch margins and
be approximately a page (350 words is the minimum, so you will most likely exceed this amount.) for each story, play, or set of
poetry readings for one class session when you use a 12 size font. Of course, you can exceed the one page, but you should always
include your name, class name and section, the title of the poetry or play, the date, and word count as your heading at the top.
(Note: Hand-written responses will not be accepted, and you must respond to all sets of questions or your journal will not be
accepted. Therefore, do not say: I don’t know, but apply those critical thinking skills.)
YOUNG GOODMAN BROWN” BY NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
1.
Summarize the plot in three sentences. (a. What happens in the story? b. What’s the conflict? c. How is the conflict resolved
or how does it affect everyone in the story?) Also, identify the chief characters, their traits, and the role that they play, and
what you think is the central idea or theme of this story.
2.
Though the main action of “Young Goodman Brown” takes place in the woods outside Salem, the story begins and ends
inside Salem village. What is gained by the story in this way? In the opening scene, we might particularly notice the
introduction of Goodman Brown’s wife, Faith. Why does the narrator say she is “aptly named”? How do Faith’s talk of her
“fears” and Brown’s emphasis on the newness of their marriage set the stage for the story that follows?
3.
How does the narrator’s description of the forest and of Brown’s thoughts (first two pages) establish the atmosphere of the
story? How would you describe the atmosphere thus created? Another way to read the story, already hinted at by the
narrator in the opening scene, is as an allegory, a tale that has not only a literal but also a metaphorical meaning. The central
figure in an allegory most often represents any or every person, while the action usually presents a struggle between good
and evil forces anxious to save or damn the central character. Since the battleground for his struggle is the mind or soul of
the disputed character, this type of allegory is called a psychomachia, or soul-battle (conflict of the soul between the spirit
and the flesh). How would you interpret “Young Goodman Brown” as allegory? If it is a battle, who has won?
4.
What sort of argument is going on within young Goodman Brown, or between him and his companion? What people does he
encounter during his time? What significance do these people have for him? What do you notice about the order in which he
meets them?
5.
At one point, the narrator remarks that “the fiend in his own shape is less hideous, than when he rages in the breast of
man.” Why does he place such a comment at this point in the story? Then, during the scene when a voice cried, “Bring the
converts,” with what is the fiend tempting Faith and Goodman Brown? What sort of faith is he trying to get them to
renounce? With what would he replace it?
6.
At the very end of the story, the narrator enters the story again to raise (and dismiss) the question of whether Brown’s
experience had been real or only a dream. Why should he raise the question if he does not intend to answer it? What is your
reaction to the passage? (Had the notion that Brown’s adventures might be a dream already entered your mind? If it had,
what clues had put it there?) Is there one reading of the story--either as the tale of an actual happening, as a tale of a dream,
or as an allegory--that seems most satisfactory to you? (If so, what reading is it, and why? If not, what is there in the story
that keeps you from deciding?) How does the narrator seem to regard the story? How do his attempts to interpret it and the
choice of interpretations he forces on you affect your response to the tale?
“THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO ” BY EDGAR ALLAN POE
1.
Summarize the plot in three sentences. (a. What happens in the story? b. What’s the conflict? c. How is the conflict resolved
or how does it affect everyone in the story?) Also, identify the chief characters, their traits, and the role that they play, and
what you think is the central idea or theme of this story.
2.
Montressor cites a “thousand injuries” and an “insult” as his motivation for murdering Fortunato. Given what you learn
about the two men during the course of the story, what do you suppose the “injuries” and “insult” might be? What is
Montressor’s concept of personal honor? What is the significance of Montressor’s family coat of arms and motto? What is
the significance of Fortunato’s costume?
3.
Does Fortunato ever understand why Montressor hates him? What is Fortunato’s attitude toward Montressor? In what ways
does Montressor manipulate Fortunato? What weaknesses does Montressor exploit? Why does Montressor wait for a reply
before he puts the last stone in position? What do you think he wants Fortunato to say? Do you find Montressor to be a
reliable narrator? If not, what makes you distrust his version of events? Why does Montressor wait fifty years to tell his
story? How would the story be different if he had told it the next morning?
4.
What is the significance of the setting when Montressor and Fortunato meet and then where Montressor take Fortunato to
avenge himself? Also, identify examples of irony and foreshadowing in this story, and why it helps to understand the
theme/central idea that Poe conveys in this story.