Provide a short response to the following prompts in the space provided below he following questions. Be sure to respond to all parts of the question. Excerpts from all 4 stories are included below.
How does Hemingway employ symbolism in “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place”? Choose one symbol that occurs in the story and discuss its function and significance.
What, besides insomnia, makes the older waiter reluctant to go to bed? Why does he understand so well the old man’s need for a café? Discuss, in particular, his meditation containing the “nada” refrain.
In “The Storm”, how does Kate Chopin use setting to underline and reinforce her themes and/or the action of her narrative? How does the storm function as a symbol?
Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” caused considerable controversy when published in The New Yorker in 1948. Aside from the brutality of the ritual depicted, why do you think her story elicited such strong reactions from the reading public? What characteristics of human nature does Jackson’s story reveal?
