English 11 Short story & Poetry List Questions

From The Literary Experiences text:

X by Lois Gould...page 28
Questions:
1.  Does North American culture treat boys and girls differently?  Give at least 3 examples to support your answer.
2a.  What do you like most about being a boy/girl?
2b.  What doe you like least?
3.  How would you feel if tomorrow you moved into a society that treated boys and girls the same? 
4.  What point of view does the author use to tell this story?  Is it an effective choice? Explain.
5.  Why does the story begin "One upon a time"?  What does this imply about the setting?
6.  According to the story, how does gender shape our identity?  What role does society play in this?
7.  What do you think the author's point is (theme)? Explain.

For discussion:
a) "superpsychiamedicosocioculturometer (p. 35) is not a real word? What do you think Gould means by the invention of this term?
b) Do you think the name 'X' actually implies anything?  What about baby 'Y'?

Woodtick by Joy Kogawa...page 69
Questions:
1.  Who is Deidre? Why does she want to walk faster?
2.  Who is the narrator? What is she afraid of?
3.  Where is flashback employed in this poem?  What is its purpose?
4.  What comment is the poem making concerning the idea that our personal identities are affected by the way people perceive us and treat us?

Warren Pryor by Alden Nowlan..page 262
Questions:
1.  What figure of speech is "cup runeth over"?  What does this phrase mean?
2.  Why did the parents marvel at the "milk white shirts"?
3.  How do we know Warren Pryor is not living the life he wants?
4.  Identify the simile in stanza 4.  Why is it effective?

The Average by W.H. Auden...page263
Questions:
1.  What does the poet mean in stanza 2 when he says "No sensisble career was good enough. / Only a hero could deserve such love"?
2.  Read stanza 3.  This stanza is unlike the others.  How might the poet be using symbolism here?
3.  Explain the last 2 lines of the poem.

Comparison Questions for both poems:
1.  What are the similarities between both central characters in these poems?
2.  Do you empathize with them? Why? Why not?
3.  Why did each of the sons choose to live out his parents' dreams for him instead of his own?

Paul's Case by Willa Cather
Questions:
1.  What kind of person is Paul?
2.  What do Paul's teachers think of him?
3.  What do his parents think of him?
4.  Why is Paul accustomed to lying? What does this reveal about his character? 
5.  Why do people feel that his appearance and behavior are "peculiarly offensive in a boy"?
6.  Do you think his teachers are justified in their opinion of him? Explain.  Do they think they are justified?
7.  What is so appealing to Paul about his job?
8.  Read the first 2 paragraphs on page 3. How does his home compare to the theater? Explain.
9.  Read the 3rd paragraph on page 3. What does this tell us about Paul?
10.  Read paragraph 7 on page 3.  What does this reveal about Paul's father's expectations of him?
11. From what we know about Paul, why might he have a problem with his father's expectations?
12. When do things take a 'turn for the worst' for Paul?
13. What does Paul do in response to his father's actions and his punishment?
14. Describe how Paul's life different while he is in New York.
15. Why does Paul leave New York and return home?
16. What is the reason for Paul's tragedy? Why do you think he chooses the ending he does (remember he contemplated it earlier)?

A Secret Lost in Water by Roch Carrier...page 275
Questions:
1.  How does the narrator’s relationship with his father change when the boy enters school?  Which of them causes this change?  How does the narrator’s relationship with his past change after his conversation with the farmer?
2.  The alder divining branches in the story may be seen as symbols.  What do they symbolize?  What lessons does the narrator learn from them?
3.  The narrator states that he went with the film crew “to capture the image of a sad man: his children didn’t want to receive the inheritance he’d spent his whole life preparing for them…” What irony can you see in this statement?

Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden...page 259
Questions:
1.  Examine the imagery in this poem.  What one sense is most appealed to?
2.  Summarize in one sentence what the father would do on Sunday mornings.  Was this the only day he would do this?
3.  What can we tell about the father from his actions? 
4.  Examine the third stanza.  What has the narrator realized about his father?  What does he appear to regret?

Comparing both selections:
1.  These pieces are both narrated by grown children looking back on their childhood.  What do they appear to be saying about children and hindsight?