Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice is a great novel, dealing with the effect society has on people and the status of women. Elizabeth Bennet is the protagonist in the novel. She has four other sisters, and in that time period, marriage was all that mattered, since women could not make a living on their own. The novel starts off with a new, wealthy man moving into town named Mr. Bingley. Mr. And Mrs. Bennet are thrilled to hear the news, since all five of their daughters are unmarried. Mr. Bingley is amused by Jane the oldest daughter. His friend Darcy is also amused by Elizabeth. However, Darcy is prejudiced and his pride does not allow him to get to know her. He is perceived as haughty and the women are appalled by him. Darcy degrades Elizabeth at the first ball when he refuses to dance with her. As time progresses, Elizabeth overcomes her prejudice and sees another side to Darcy. Darcy even helps the Bennet family out when the youngest sister, Lydia, elopes with a cruel man. Eventually Darcy and Elizabeth let go of their pride and prejudice toward one another and fall in love.

1. Mr. Bingley's sister is a wealthy snob. She looks down upon the Bennet girls because they do not have money like herself. What influence does money have on the way that people perceive other people and the world around them? Is the situation the same now as it was in the past?

2. Marriage is all that mattered to Mrs. Bennett. She wanted all of her daughters to be happily married so that they could be accepted socially? Is there still pressure today for women to marry?

Moby Dick

The narrator travels to Massachusetts where he says he intends to board a whaling vessel. At an inn in Massachusetts, he meets a harpooner named Queequeg. They travel together to Nantucket, where they intend to find work together as walers. There, they become part of the Pequods crew. The ship sets off to sea when they meet its captain. The peg-legged man says he intends to pursue moby-dick, the whale that took his leg. Around the tip of Africa, Ahabs private harpooning crew shows themselves because they were smuggled unto he ship. As they travel throught he Indian ocean, they meet a prophet who prophesies ill fortune for whoever hunts moby-dick. Around this time Qyeequeg saves a man that falls into the water by diving in and saving him himself. Later on the whaling vessel meets Boomer, another whale-boat captain. Boomer says that he lost an arm with his encounter witht he great white whale.

Fastdellah prophesizes Ahabs death and three sailors fall to their deaths. They finally encounter Moby-Dick and the whale attacks their harpoon boats. The captain Ahab dies during this encounter. The whale sinks the boat and a whirlpool is created which drags all sailors into it killing them except Ishmael. Ishmeal floats on Queequegs coffin untill he is saved by Rachel.

Is revenge worth dying for?

Have you ever felt the need to get revenge such as Ahab?

The Road

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, is the story about a man and a boy trying to find civilization. The man and the boy (father and son) are some of the last survivors of a past apocalypse that wiped out most of the world's civilization. The other survivors are a group of cannibalistic people that the father and son are constantly avoiding in order to save themselves. On their journey they are trying to find more "good people" like themselves in order to keep mankind going. During the story the reader is told about the boys mother who, after giving birth, commits suicide, leaving the father alone with their new born. This event has taken a toll on the father and is one of the reasons that pushes him to continue his journey even though he is dying. Also, the only source of protection they have is a gun that only has one bullet in it. Throughout the course of the book the man contemplates using this on his son in case they get taken by cannibals. At the end of the novel the man eventually dies leaving his son alone in the apocalypse. Eventually a family of what is believed to be "good people" comes and offers the boy a place in their family in order to find more of the good civilization.

1. If you were the last of mankind, would you try to find more people, or would you take the easy way out?
2. Death is one of the main themes of the novel. Why do you feel authors use death as a main struggle that their characters must overcome?

1984 by George Orwell

The novel 1984 by George Orwell takes place in the year 1984 in a fictional place called Oceania. The novel is written so that Oceania is supposed to be a futuristic state where the government has complete control of its citizens lives. This government is referred to as the Party. The leader of the Party is Oceania's dictator called Big Brother. The protagonist in the novel is Winston Smith. Smith work in the Ministry of Truth where it is his job to change events of the past as the Party sees fit. Smith hates the party and the complete control it has over society. So, he begins to secretly and illegally write in a diary to record his thoughts against the Party in. Smith risks quite a lot by writing in a diary. If he gets caught by the Though Police, he will most likely be killed.
At Smith's work, he meets Julia. They begin their love affair when she gives him a note saying that she loves him. If they are caught having this affair the consequences are severe, relationships between Party members is strictly enforced against. Julia and Smith try to be sneaky by renting a room above a shop owned by a man named Mr. Charringtion where they believe it will be safe to meet each other.
Soon after, a man by the name of O'Brien gives Smith his address so that he and Julia can come visit him. Smith is very intrigued by this, O'Brien is a high up member in the Party and very rich. Smith has always suspected that O'Brien is secretly against the Party and may be a member of the Brotherhood. The Brotherhood is the party that works secretly to try and overthrow Big Brother. When Julia and Smith go to O'Brien's he makes them members of the Brotherhood. Once they leave, Julia and Smith go to their rented room where the Thought Police come rushing into their room. It turns out that Mr. Charrington is a worker for the Thought Police and O'Brien was just setting them up to commit a crime against the Party.
Julia and Smith are both arrested and taken to the Ministry of Love. At the Ministry of Love, O'Brien is the man who wants to take charge of "fixing" Smith so he is acceptable for society. Smith is tortured and brainwashed by O'Brien. The final step of Smith's torture was facing his worst fear. O'Brien put Smith's head in a box full of rats. O'Brien was going to let the rats eat Smith's face until Smith begged for his life and wished that it was Julia facing this fate instead of him. O'Brien released Smith at this point because he got what he had wanted. Smith had betrayed Julia. Smith no longer had feelings for Julia and was released into society to live as a brainwashed man until the Thought Police will put him to death. Smith was successfully brainwashed into accepting Big Brother.


1) The power the government in 1984 has over its people is overwhelming. People are not even allowed to think freely in this society. The Party even alters history to conform to its ideas. Do you think that a society this controlling could ever come about today or in the future?

2) Smith tries to rebel against the Party by writing in a diary even though he knows it is illegal and could be executed for it. He also tries to join the rebellion group called the Brotherhood who works to overthrow the leader of the government. If you were in a society that had complete control over its people would you be brave enough to rebel even if it meant possible death?

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

Kindred tells the story of a black woman named Edana who is unpacking books into her new house with her white husband, Kevin, when she is overcome with dizzyness and finds herself somehow transported away from her home to a lake where a young boy is drowning. She runs to save the boy, young and white, and once he is breathing again his father comes up and attempts to shoot Dana in the head. As he pulls the trigger, however, she is immediately transported back to her home. Her husband says she had only been gone for a few seconds, but that couldn't be possible: Her encounter had taken minutes, not seconds. A few hours later Dana is pulled again to the young boy, by in the short hours between their encounters the boy has aged several years as he is trying to burn down his house to get back at his father selling the horse he hoped to get. She learns that they are in 1815 Maryland, at a very high point in slavery. She also learnsh the boy is named Rufus Weylin, the name she recognizes as her great great great (etc.) grandfather. Her fear is peaked, but she doesn't disappear. Instead she has to sneak away into the night to the house of a woman named Alice, her great great great (etc.) grandmother. While there she encounters a group of white men. One of them tries to rape her, but she fights him off and knocks him unconscious. When she begins thinking of how he will surely kill her when he wakes up she is again overcome with dizzyness and returns home. On her next visit, Keivn grabs onto her when she is leaving. They arrive right after Rufus has fallen and broken his leg. When they meet Rufus's father Kevin pretends he owns Dana and they live on the Weylin plantation for nearly a year before Dana is caught trying to teach one of the slave boys to read and is caught. Mr. Weylin takes her outside and whips her until she feels her life is in danger, and before Kevin can reach her, she disappears, leaving him behind. Due to the difference in time between her home and the plantation, the eight days she spends recouperating amounts to about four year by the time she returns. She is accepted onto the Weylin plantation again as a slave, but Rufus is much older and is beginning to take over. Kevin left several years earlier to go up north and explore, so Dana is left hoping he will come back. Rufus called her back because he raped Alice and her husband found out about it. Dana arrived as Rufus was being killed by Alice's husband. Dana persuades them to leave and takes the unconscious Rufus back home. After two letters that Dana attempted to write to Kevin recieved no reply, she went looking in Rufus's room and found both, unsent. That night she attempted to escape and was immediately caught, but Kevin was summoned and they returned to 1976 when Rufus tried to kill Dana for leaving with Kevin. Dana returns one last time to find Mr. Weylin dying, Rufus turning into a brutal slaveowner, and Alice, Rufus's wife, having hung herself after having had Dana's Great Great (etc.) Grandmother. As Rufus attempts to rape her, later, Dana takes out her knife and stabs him twice, killing him, but when she returned home the place from which he was holding her arm was severed.


1. If you were a black woman having lived your life up through 2011 with full rights of an american citizen, do you think you could survive going back into 1815 and encountering slavery?
2.Would you conform or fight?
3. As happened to Dana and her husband, "if" you were somehow magically transported to another year with someone and THEY returned home, but you were left behind, would you stay forever in the same place, waiting hoping they'd come back, or would you leave and try to go on with your life knowing it could be years and years before they ever returned?


This is an AWESOME book. It took like 3 days to read, i absolutely couldn't put it down. When Enlgish class is over and we're done with all this Hamlet nonsense everyone should read this book, even if you don't like to read....during the summer..

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle, is a collection of some of the first Sherlock Holmes stories. They were originally published as single short stories in the Strand Magazine, but have now been placed conveniently together in one novel.

The first story in the book, “A Scandal in Bohemia,” has Holmes and Watson trying to solve the King of Bohemia’s case. The king explains that he is engaged to a Scandinavian princess, but at one time of his life was with an Opera singer named Irene Adler, who is now blackmailing him and has evidence of their relationship that could potentially ruin his engagement. He asks Holmes to find and destroy whatever evidence Adler has, and Holmes agrees to attempt to help him with his case. He disguises himself in order to enter Adler’s house, where a party is being held, and with the help of Watson, attempts to find the evidence. Whether he is able to succeed or not, you will have to read to find out.

In another short story, titled “A Case of Identity,” Sherlock Holmes is asked by Mary Sutherland to help her find her fiancée, who disappeared the day they were to be wed. Throughout all the stories, one is able to see how Holmes has a gift for reading into people and piecing things together about them through observation. In this story, he is able to figure out exactly who Mary’s supposed fiancée is solely by knowing that he works in an office on Leadenhall Street. By matching the typewritten letter of the fiancée to one written by someone in her family, he learns that maybe the fiancée is really a family member in disguise.

1. In these stories, Holmes is a master at solving simple problems through observation. He says, “Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others overlook” (32). Do you think that we sometimes overlook simple things in our daily lives? For example, if someone were to ask you what the person who sat across from you at lunch on Friday was wearing, would you be able to remember the details?

Dune By Frank Herbert

Over 20,000 years in the future, the human race has grown and multiplied as it controls countless planets, planetary systems and galaxies. They are Ruled by the Aristocratic houses that report to the emperor himself. Technology has progressed to where computers are not needed anymore as some humans have the brain capacity to act as a computer. Spice is the resource which fuels most of the human empires resources as it fuels space travel and many other things. Some humans have developed a link to the spice giving them new mental abilities. However the emperor has come to fear House Atreides as he begins to grow more powerful with the love and support of the people. Their rivals House Harkonenn who despise House Atreides are enlisted to destroy them so the Emperor prevails. Paul Atreides the son of Duke Leo Atreides, is said to have been very special as he was young and is trained all his life for greatness. He repeatedly has visions of things to come of their family and his future but remains confused on what it means.Their House travels to Arrakis the main planet of the story, and the only planet which contains the spice needed for all they work for. As House Atreides rules over the planet they are attacked by House Harkonenn where they slaughter everyone and enslave them. Only Paul and his mother escape the carnage as they use their mental abilites to trick and knock out the guards on a ship. As their ship crashes they remain stranded in the deserts of Arrakis. They immediately seek shelter on a rock as the massive sand worms of dune sense the vibrations. They soon meet up with the Fremen gaining their trust. The Fremen are human tribes on Arrakis with the beliefs of it would become a hospitable planet. They value the spice as something else than the emperor and the aristocrats and have become so accustomed to Arrakis their blood clot's faster than an average human to preserve water. Paul shows them the mental weapons to the Freman and new powers they can use. They soon claim Paul as they're messiah as he soon gains the ability to control the sand worms. As Paul leads attacks On the Harkonenn spice bases he frees former House Atreides Soldiers and begins to plot his revenge on House Harkonenn and stop the emperor's tyranny once and for all.

1. In Dune, The spice is a major objective for everyone to control. How does the spice relate to resources of today.

2. How does Paul Atreides relate to many religions of today.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is a novel taken place in the future. It starts off by explaining the process of how people are "created." With a scientific process called the Bokanovsky process, hundreds and thousands of identical human embryos are created every single year. But, everyone has a different caste. For example, if you are born an Epsilon, you are destined to become a laborer. Each caste is conditioned throughout the first couple of years of their lives so that they can become what they are destined to be and so they will abide by society's strict rules. No one is allowed to have relationships, only sexual ones. They are also allowed to take a drug called soma, which causes them to forget their troubles and sadness. If they are feeling any sadness whatsoever, they take this and they become happy and oblivious to the strict world around them. Lenina Crowne, a person who works at one of the nurseries for the conditioned children, is a typical citizen in this strange futuristic world. She knows the rules, and she abides by them. But she cannot help but be attracted to the strange character Bernard Marx. Bernard seems like a normal person, to us. He refuses to take soma and he sees the faults in his government. But when Bernard and Lenina take a trip to another country, he discovers that he impregnated a women there many years ago who ended up having his baby, named John. This country is very different from his own, though. It is not modernized. It is comparable to an Indian reservation. So when Bernard goes home, now everyone is looking at Bernard with weary eyes. They notice his differences easily now and see that he is not like them. But everyone is extremely intrigued by John. He is so different from the people they are used to being surrounded by. Even Lenina is attracted to him and tries to seduce him. But will John be the downfall to their Utopian society? Or will the citizens of this Brave New World learn to accept his differences and learn to integrate new things into their world?

Questions:

1. How would you feel if you were not allowed to have relationships with other people?

2. Describe your perfect Utopian society.

3. What do you think will happen to John after being exposed to such a different world? Do you think he will end up living there and adapt to their rules and customs, or do you think he will go back to his "Indian reservation?"

Night by Elie Wiesel

The story starts out in Sighet, Transylvania and takes place during World War II. The narrator is a thirteen year old, Jewish boy named Eliezer. Elie is part of a well known family that practices strict Jewish customs. He lives with his parents and three sisters. In his free time, Elie studies the Talmud and the Cabbala under his teacher, Moshe the Beadle. Shortly after, the Hungarians create laws that expel some Jews, and Moshe is forced to leave. Moshe returns and tells everyone in Sighet about the Gestapo, and how they forced the Jews to dig their own graves, but everyone thinks that he’s crazy. Rapidly after Moshe returns, the Jews become more and more oppressed and eventually, they are compelled to live in ghettos. After living in the ghettos for a short time, the Jews are transported to Auschwitz and told that it is a labor camp and all the people will be able to stay with their families. This is done to keep the prisoners calm and orderly on the train. Then they arrive at Birkenau to be sorted into groups of who is able to work and who is not. Here, Elie and his father are separated from his mom and sisters and never sees them again. After they are separated they meet a man who advises Elie and his father to lie about their age so they aren’t deemed unable to work and immediately killed. They are also advised to keep their faith and not rebel against the Nazis. This is important because after being in Auschwitz, many of the Jews are discouraged and feel hopeless. Later on, Elie and his father are transported to Buna. At the new camp, Elie becomes a different person and instead of focusing on his faith and keeping hope, he cares more about his own survival. He even gets mad at his dad for getting beaten by one of the officers at the camp. Also, Elie and the other prisoners witness a small child being hanged and Elie wonders how God could exist and believes that God was hanged with that child. Later, the Jews are transported again, but this time they are forced to run in the middle of a blizzard. Once they arrive at their new location, Elie meets a Rabi who is trying to find his son. Elie lies and says he hasn't seen his son, even though he saw his son abandon his father during the run when he didn't think his father would make it. From this point on, Elie vows to never leave his dads' side. Unfortunately, about three months away from being liberated, Elie's dad dies from dysentery and being beaten to death. The story does not have a happy ending, it ends after his dad’s death and being liberated. This novel is about keeping your faith and never giving up hope even in the most desperate times, because those are the things that kept Elie and his father alive for so long. This book is also meant to remind people about the tragedies the Jewish people faced on a daily basis in these camps so they did not die in vain.

1. If you were in this situation, do you think you would be able to keep your faith and survive?

2. The story, Elizer gives his dad some of his food, but other people in the camp discourage him and tell him to let his father die. Would you sacrifice your chances of survival for someone you loved?

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Jane Austen's novel, Sense and Sensibility, was published in 1811 and has many of the same qualities that are present in her other novels. Women are dependent on the male figures in society which can be seen in the opening pages. Henry Dashwood dies and his son John takes over the estate. Unfortunately, that leaves Henry's wife and three daughters (Elinor, Marianne and Margaret) with hardly any fortune. Six months after Mr. Dashwood's death, Sir John Middleton (Mrs. Dashwood's cousin)invites her and her daughters to come live at Barton Cottage where he lives. Mrs. Dashwood willingly accepts the invitation. Even though Mrs. Dashwood cannot wait to leave, Elinor has trouble leaving everything behind, especially a gentleman that she likes named Edward Ferrars. Upon their arrival to their new home, the Middletons throw their guests a dinner party. Colonel Brandon, a guest at the party, takes an interest in Marianne, but Marianne later falls in love with John Willoughby. Lucy Steele comes to visit and informs Elinor that she has been secretly engaged to Mr. Ferrars for a year now. Elinor assumes that she means Robert Ferrars, but to her horror she finds out it is really to Edward Ferrars, the man Elinor loves. Later, Marianne's heart is also broken when she sees Mr. Willoughby at a party and he sends her a letter soon afterward saying that he never had feelings for her. It becomes clear that the reason for breaking up their relationship was because he had met Sophia Grey, a rich young woman. Quickly after their break-up, news comes around that he has already asked Sophia for her hand in marriage. While Marianne is sick, Mr. Willoughby comes to visit her and she realizes that her life is better without him. I do not want to give away the ending, but I will say that I would recommend this book to anyone who likes Jane Austen's other pieces of literature.

1. What would you do if you found out that the person you loved had secretly been engaged? Would you confront them or would you behave more like Elinor and just decide to move on with your life without fully confronting the person?

2.In the novel, Edward's fiance ends up leaving him for his brother Robert. If you were in this situation, how would you react?

Electra by Sophocles

Electra by Sophocles is a play that revolves around the idea of revenge. Nearly all characters seek to right some wrong that was done on to them creating a cycle of hate and disgust. The basis of the story centers on Electra and her misery at the murder of her father Agamemnon. While her father being killed is a tragedy in itself, it’s amplified by the fact that his death was at the hands of his wife Clytemnestra and her new lover Aegisthus. Agamemnon’s surviving children must deal with the fact that their father, a great war hero, was cut down in such a cruel and backstabbing way. The children begin to plan to take out revenge on the pair of murderers for killing their father.

At the beginning of the play we learn that Electra had taken her younger brother Orestes and sent him away to escape the household of murderers while Electra and her younger sister Chrysothemis are left to the unfair treatment of Clytemnestra and Aegisthus. Electra herself is treated as a slave in her own father’s household and kept inside the palace while Aegisthus is away and is forced to wear rags. While Chrysothemis is not treated as harshly, she lives suppressed by Clytemnestra and Aegisthus and believes it’s better to follow what they say than to create misery by speaking out.

Partway through the play we find out another reason for the murder of Agamemnon other than the fact that Clytemnestra had taken interest in a new man. Agamemnon had upset the goddess Athena and as a way to repay her and let her have her revenge, he had to sacrifice his young daughter. This action rightly upset his wife to where she sought revenge upon him. The cycle does not stop here though.

To get revenge on the people that murdered Agamemnon, Electra and Orestes come up with a plan. The plan begins with pretending that Orestes had died in a chariot accident. While their parents think he is dead, he will come to the palace acting as someone else. Once he gains access, they will take the first step of their plan by murdering their mother Clytemnestra. They will then wait until Aegisthus returns before executing their second step.

1. Is there any good to getting revenge?

2. Have you ever gotten revenge on someone? (Stories are nice!)

Snow Falling on Cedars

The story takes place in the 1950's on San Pedro island off the coast of Washington. The story begins in a courtroom on December 6, 1954, the day before the anniversary of Pearl Harbor but flashes through different time periods and is told mostly through Ishmael Chambers, the newspaper reporter. Kabuo Miyamoto is a Japanese-American accused of killing fellow fisherman Carl Heine. There is a snowstorm outside and most of the members of the small town are attending the hearing. Carl was found dead caught in the net of his boat and the police officers suspect someone killed him and are quick to place the blame on Kabuo. The story flashes back to before World War II and talks about how the residents of the island came without money and they grew strawberries for a living. To try to decrease prejudice every year a Japanese girl would be named princess of the strawberry festival until in 1942 when all the Japanese Americans we forced to go to internment camps. The story flashes back to the courtroom again where Hatsue is thinking about how she Kabuo met in an internment camp and then married. Then Ishmael is thinking about his childhood when he and Hatsue used to talk and kiss but now she will not speak to him. Then Carl's mother, Etta, takes the stand and talks about how Kabou's father used to pay Etta's husband money to use his land since a person of Japanese descent could not own land. Kabou's family is sent away to internment camps before they can make their final payment to own the land. Etta sold the land to Ole Jurgenson when her husband died. When Kabuo returns from war he wants to pay the final payment for the land but he is too late. Later when he learns Ole has put the farm back up for sale Kabou wants to buy it but Carl has already repurchased the land. The story then goes back and forth with evidence, some that proves Kabuo guilty and some that proves him innocent. The storm outside has caused the electricity to go out in the courtroom and causes a break in the trial. While Ishmael is driving around taking pictures to document the storm he sees his old love Hatsue and offers her a ride. She tells him that her husbands trial is not fair and he should write an article about it in his newspaper. After dropping her off Ismael goes to the lighthouse coast guard station and finds out what happened to Carl. It was foggy and a large freighter had come through and made waves that were big enough to push him overboard. Ishmael writes a story about it hoping to please Hatsue but also not wanting to write it because many of the islanders do not like the Japanese and he does not want to be on there bad side. Eventually the truth comes out and Kabuo is set free.

1. Do you think that people today are still prejudiced? Are there any examples you can think of that show how a person's ethnicity, gender, social status, etc. possibly changed the outcome of their courtcase?

2. Many of the characters in this novel are changed by what they have seen while fighting in the war. How do you think you would react if you were to fight in a war or have you seen the impact of fighting in a war directly?

Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, tells the story of the Bennet family, focusing mainly on the daughters, especially the two eldest, Jane and Elizabeth. The Bennets are not a wealthy family, but they manage. Mrs. Bennet wants all of her daughters to be married and is willing to do basically anything to do so. When Mr. Bingley moves in close by, Mrs. Bennet is determined to get him to marry one of her daughters, seeing as he is a very wealthy man. At a party, he takes an interest with Jane and continues to court her throughout the novel. At this same party, Mr. Darcy is introduced. He refuses to dance with Elizabeth and is therefore seen as a rude and proud man that is not well liked. These are the four main characters which most of the plot revolves around. As the plot progresses, the relationship between Jane and Bingley has its ups and downs, and it is entertaining to see it develope. Through many events, the true caring and courteous nature of Darcy is seen to the reader and to Elizabeth, and she knows that he is not the rude man that she first thought him to be. They fall in love, but Darcy's family, especially his mother, does not approve of the relationship at all and attempt to keep them from marrying. You can probably guess how the story ends, but in case you have not, I will not give it away.
Question:
Darcy is a very wealthy man and falls in love with Elizabeth, whos family does not have a lot of money. Is it socially acceptable today for a very wealthy person to marry someone of a much lower social standing? Why or why not?

As I Lay Dying

William Faulkner's famed novel, As I Lay Dying, takes place in Mississippi during a time of racism and bigotry. The mother of poor family, who live in a rural town, is on her deathbed and the entire family contributes a little something in the end of her life. The novel is told in fifteen different perspectives. Cash, her eldest son, works on making a coffin for his mother while the neighbors take care of her. Addie then dies the next day and placed into the coffin. One of her sons, Vardamere, believes he accidentally caused her death by feeding her a bad fish. This thought is so buried in his mind, that he opens the coffin and bores two holes into his mother's head, on accident again. While this is happening, Addie's daughter, Dewey Dell, is more focused on her unexpected pregancy than her mother's death. Addie's funeral is held the next day. She had only one wish: to be buried in the town of Jefferson. Although her husband wanted other worldly materials, he agrees and the males haul Addie away in a wagon, but one son, Jewel, refuses to travel in the wagon with the coffin. As their travels lead to the night, the boys stay with an accepting family, who do not believe burying Addie in Jefferson is a great idea. However, the family travels on but face complications when they learn the bridge across the river has flooded. They make a raft to attempt to make it across but a log in the river throws the coffin overboard. Luckily, a man named Vernon Toll helps them recover the coffin and eventually cross the flooded river. Tull's wife recalls Addie's unchristian life. Through a flashback, the reader sees Addie's affair with a priest, which produced Jewel, and the loveless marriage of Addie and her husband. Anse, her husband, then uses the money he was saving for false teeth, Cash's money for a gramophone, and traded in Jewel's most prized possession, his horse, to pay for a new set of mules to continue their journey. As the family reaches the town called Mottson, the stench of Addie's corpse negativiely attracts the twonspeople. That night, another son, Darl, attempts to burn the coffin by burning the farmhouse in which it rests. However, Jewel not only saves the coffin, but also all the animals inside. Darl realizes his sin and weeps over the coffin asking for forgiveness. Back home, Dewey wants to buy an abortion drug but the pharmacist suggests marriage is a better way out. The next morning, the family arrives in Jefferson, where they finally bury Addie. When the entire family is reunited, Anse sports his new false teeth... and his new bride.

1. If you were in a loveless marriage like Anse, would you request separation even though it could affect your children's lives?

2. Even if there was no love in the relationship, would you attempt to fulfill a close one's dying wish?

3. What is more important in a relationship: love or respect?

Bullet Park by John Cheever

This novel was written in 1969 and takes place in a suburban neighborhood known as Bullet Park. The beginning of this novel is told through a man named Eliot Nailles. This suburb is a typical United States neighborhood at the time the novel was written. It is made up of families where the father or husband goes off to work every morning and the mother or wife remains at home cleaning and cooking and whatever else their husbands expected. Eliot Nailles' family is an example of a typical suburban family, except he and the rest of his family are not living as happily as one may believe. They each have their reasons for their signs of disgust and disappointment and they all have their own set of problems. Their son is not doing as well as he should in school and this highly disappoints his mother, Eliot's wife. And Eliot's career of being a chemist is also somewhat failing. Eliot's life changes when he meets a man named Paul Hammer who has just recently moved into Bullet Park. As strange as it sounds, Eliot is drawn to this man due to the pun created by their last names, Hammer and Nailles (Nails). The second part of the novel is told through Paul Hammer and is about his past. This occurrence of these two men meeting each other changes both their lives for many reasons.

1) In this novel, most of the wives or mothers of the families remain at home to do chores or cleaning or other other roles that women were expected to perform. Do believe that it is right for women to stay at home all day to do house-work while their husbands are off working and raising money to support their family. Do you think women have just as much ability to work as men do. Is it wrong to stereotype someone just based on gender?