"Reading A Story" Questions

Aesop

1. The North Wind is greedy and forceful; he is overconfident by going first to prove his strength and gives too much, forcing the traveler to protect himself further. The sun appears to be much more patient. He knows that a steady, constant heat will wear the traveler down and as he increases his strength, the traveler will be "persuaded" to take off his cloak. He was confident his power was more than the North Wind's, but did not take it for granted.

2. Too much, too fast. A little wind at the start, slowly increasing and a large gust all at once may have lost the man his clock but the immediate power of the wind told the man to hang on tight.

3. He slowly heated the man up so by the time he reached his peak strength, the man has probably begun to perspire already, so was glad to remove his cloak. He convinced the man and did not force him.

4. He is the object of resolving their argument.

5. Slow convincing that the man should choose to take his coat off is much more effective than forcing him to part with it.


Chuang Tzu

1. The exposition is the beginning of the story when the author explains who the two men are representing and what they have come to ask Chuang Tzu. Only 2 sentences are necessary from Chuang Tzu to show the dramatic situation.

2. I think he mentions the tortoise first to show the man why he refuses and make them understand his reasoning immediately. He doesn't want to deeply explain himself. The purpose is that he knows mentioning the turtle will let them see it from his eyes.

3. This story tells us that Chuang Tzu both knows what he wants and how to make his point. He is straight to the point about his opinions and feelings.



A & P by John Updike

1. The details in this story that stand out as particularly ordinary in this story is that he calls the customers pushing around their carts "sheep." I used to work in a grocery store so this story seemed very true to life to me. The customers really do seem to herd around like a bunch of sheep, and I also liked how he described the aisle that the girls went down as having multiple seemingly unrelated items all packed into the one aisle. The close attention to detail in this story contributes a tone of complete normalcy. It allows for both easy reading, as well as picture view in your mind's eye of exactly what was things looked like in the supermarket.

2. Sammy's character is only somewhat drawn up. You get an idea for what he finds interesting, what draws his attention and the boredom his job brings. He seems polite in that he doesn't snap at the "cash-register-watcher" when she gets angry with him, but later seems lacking in respect for his boss, although quitting and trying to make a good point. I don't know if he is less of a hero for wanting the girls to notice his heroism, but I wouldn't call him a hero anyway because his boss didn't really act like Sammy quitting would make any difference in how the store manager would handle a similar situation in the future. Because the story is told from his point of view, you of course get a better idea of his mindset, as well as a few personality traits than you did of the doctor in "Godfather Death."

3. The exposition would be the introduction of Sammy and the description of the setting in the A & P. When he first spots the girls and the interaction with the lady at the register gives you an idea of what is to come. The detail to the description of Queenie is very important to the story because he shows that Sammy is thinking highly of her, placing her on a pedestal and in turn, explains why he wanted to stand up for her.

4. Sammy's feelings do seem to change about the girls. The "chunky one" who first caught his eye becomes less important to him. When he first talks about Queenie, he explains her almost like she's a snob who ordered the other girls inside and made them follow her around. He sounds like he might not like her already, but as he goes on and continues to watch her, her slow movements, her money placement and her voice, you begin to see that he finds her very attractive and in fact, likes her.

5. Dramatic conflict was when Lengel, who misses nothing, walks toward his office door and stops to look at the girls. You right away know that something is going to happen. The author says "Then everybody's luck begins to run out." When he tells the girls they aren't at the beach is the crisis and tension begins to rise in the girls and Sammy, as well. The climax occurs when Sammy tells Lengel he quits as the girls are leaving.

6. Sammy quits his job both to prove a point to the boss that embarrassing the girls was unnecessary, as well as to become a hero to the girls and win their affections.

7. I expected Sammy to stand up for the girls because he earlier stated that he felt sorry for them when the meat man appeared to be checking them out. He thought "Poor kids, I began to feel sorry for them, they couldn't help it."

8. The conclusion of the story shows that Sammy did not get the girl and is now unemployed. He thinks the world is going to be harder now because he no longer has an income and could be feeling immediate regret. He also could have been thinking about how his parents would be disappointed like Lengel suggested.

9. Updike talks about the supermarket in a funny way, making the customers appear as animals and with the mean, bitter manager. The whole story works around the "No shirt, No shoes, No service" rule most stores abide by. All of the customers and employees seemed shocked and distracted by the lack of clothing on the girls.