Part

1. This semi-barbaric king had a daughter as blooming as his most florid fancies, and with a
soul as fervent and imperious as his own. As is usual in such cases, she was the apple of his eye,
and was loved by him above all humanity. Among his courtiers was a young man of that fineness
of blood and lowness of station common to the conventional heroes of romance who love royal
maidens. This royal maiden was well satisfied with her lover, for he was handsome and brave to a
degree unsurpassed in all this kingdom, and she loved him with an ardor that had enough of
barbarism in it to make it exceedingly warm and strong. This love affair moved on happily for
many months, until one day the king happened to discover its existence. He did not hesitate nor
waver in regard to his duty in the premises. The youth was immediately cast into prison, and a
day was appointed for his trial in the king's arena. This, of course, was an especially important
occasion, and his majesty, as well as all the people, was greatly interested in the workings and
development of this trial. Never before had such a case occurred; never before had a subject
dared to love the daughter of the king. In after years such things became commonplace enough,
but then they were in no slight degree novel and startling.

2. These noises converged in a single sensation of life for me: I imagined that I bore my
chalice safely through a throng of foes. Her name sprang to my lips at moments in strange prayers
and praises which I myself did not understand. My eyes were often full of tears (I could not tell
why) and at times a flood from my heart seemed to pour itself out into my bosom. I thought little
of the future. I did not know whether I would ever tell her of my confused adoration. But my
body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires.

3. I had at that time already begun to read books and have notions of my own and the bald
path that led over the top of his head was, I fancied, something like a broad road, such a road as
Caesar might have made on which to lead his legions out of Rome and into the wonders of an
unknown world. The tufts of hair that grew above father's ears were, I thought, like forests. I fell
into a half-sleeping, half-waking state and dreamed I was a tiny thing going along the road into a
far beautiful place where there were no chicken farms and where life was a happy eggless affair.
One might write a book concerning our flight from the chicken farm into town. Mother and I
walked the entire eight miles--she to be sure that nothing fell from the wagon and I to see the
wonders of the world. On the seat of the wagon beside father was his greatest treasure. I will tell
you of that.

,

4. In real life I am a large-boned woman with rough, man-working hands. In the winter
flannel nightgowns to bed and overalls during the day. I can kill and clean a hog () as
mercilessly as a man. My fat keeps me hot in zero weather. I can work outside all day, breaking
ice to get water for washing; I can eat pork liver cooked over the open fire minutes after it comes
steaming from the hog. One winter I knocked a bull calf straight in the brain between the eyes
with a sledge hammer and had the meat hung up to chill before nightfall. But of course all this
does not show on television. I am the way my daughter would want me to be: a hundred pounds
lighter, my skin like an uncooked barely pancake. My hair glistens in the hot bright lights. Johnny
Carson has much to do to keep up with my quick and witty tongue.

.
5. He bowed his head in content till the last noise of the complaining snow had died away,
and he knew his son was beyond recall. Then his hand crept out in haste to the wood. It alone
stood between him and the eternity that yawned in upon him. At last the measure of his life was
a handful of faggots. One by one they would go to feed the fire, and just so, step by step, death
would creep upon him. When the last stick had surrendered up its heat, the frost would begin to
gather strength. First his feet would yield, then his hands; and the numbness would travel, slowly,
from the extremities to the body. His head would fall forward upon his knees, and he would rest.
It was easy. All men must die.

6. She remembered with such dreadful accurateness that the twenty-five years since then
dissolved like smoke and she instinctively looked for the weal left by the button on the palm of
her hand. She remembered not only all that she said and did but the complete suspension of her
existence during that August week. I was not myself - they all told me so at the time. She
remembered - but with one white burning blank as where acid had dropped on a photograph:
under no conditions could she remember his face.

Part
1. Whats the theme of the story The Unicorn in the Garden?
The Unicorn in the Garden by James Thurber is classic example of the existentialist
philosophy of choice and subjectivity, as shown by the characterization of husband and his wife,
the police and the psychiatrist. Both husband and his wife are different in the cultural context.
husband is man who loves nature and his wife is quiet selfish.
The struggle between the husband and wife pits peaceful fantasy (the man) vs. harsh realism
(the woman). The moral acknowledges the husband's victory, achieved by a role reversal: the
husband stakes claim to the realistic answers expected by the psychiatrist and the police after the
wife ironically repeats the husband's earlier fantastic claims.
2. In what way does the fantasy story The Lady or the Tiger? distinguish itself from a fairy tale?
How do you see the difference?
The story centers itself on the authors expression, or exploration, of the deeper side of the
conflicts between reason and desire. In telling the story, the author designed the penal system in
the ancient country to raise a question, but it was left unanswered, allowing the reader to search
in his own heart for an answer to the inevitable question posed at the end of the story. And
Unlike most fairy tales focusing on temporal cues, it emphasizes spatial shaping.
3. When the story The Story of an Hour was first published in a magazine, it was titled by the
magazine editor The Dream of an Hour, and later, it was made into a film entitled The Joy That
Kills. Which of the three titles do you think best captures the essence of the story? Why?
My favorite title is The Story of an Hour. The significance of the title The Story of an Hour is that
it is a story about something happened in an hour. This title refers to the storys duration and its
actual form. I think the idea of emphasizing the duration is great and important. It can highlight
Mrs. Mallards inner conflict more and inspire readers curiosity.
4. Compare Walter Mitty with Cervantes Don Quixode (). What similarities and
differences do you find in the two characters?
Mittys daydreams embody the clichs of adventure or war fiction and movies. While
Cervantes Don Quixode is influenced by the popular romance of his time and ridiculously acts
out his fantasies, Mitty does not even have courage to do that and seems satisfied with dreaming
about a sort of heroism as an escape from the imprisonment in triviality.
5. How do you understand the piece of yellow soap in the story A Piece of Yellow Soap?
I think the piece of yellow soap is, of course, an ordinary one. The narrator is a nave narrator
who believed that it had some sort of mysterious power. This power comes from the narrators
deep sympathy for the tragic fate of the washing woman. The piece of yellow soap symbolizes
the woman's hard life, expressing her silent struggle and her allegation of god.
6. What do you think about the ending of the story A Piece of Yellow Soap?
The end of the story expresses the narrators deep sympathy for the tragic fate of the washing
woman, and accuses God of insensible of hard life. The end emphasizes the fate of the woman,
symbolizes the miserable life of the toiling people.
7. How is the story Sleepy Time Gal narrated? What is unique about the narration?
The narrator is recounting the tale that his parents have told him, and attempting to balance
his fathers rather pragmatic view and his mothers rather romantic attitude, while at the same
time presenting some of his own interpretation. Use third-person narration and multiple voices in
narration to make the story open and multiplicity. Different from the traditional love tragedy, the
boy narrator tries to be matter-of-fact in retelling a story he heard from his parents. And the
narration can de-romanticize a heartbreaking love story.
8. What is grotesque' in the story The Eggs? How do you interpret the grotesqueness?
The author writes: Grotesques are born out of eggs as out of people. The grotesques are the
character father and the eggs he collects and keeps in jars. The grotesqueness symbolizes the
father's inner morbid state. The American dream is hard to attain, but the father still cant
separate himself from failure.
9. What do you think is the origin of the tragedy of the family?
The Egg was published in 1920 following World War one. The family searched for the American
Dream which was a common theme during that time period. During the war, industry boomed
and the economy lifted. Men who were not fighting had ample opportunities. After the war
ended, the soldiers came home and the workforce was again flooded with seasoned employees.
Unemployment rose, the economy began to struggle and later plummeted during the Great
Depression.
The family represents the mass try to adapt to the emerging industrialized society, they fight
for the American dream, but paid a terrible price. I think in the context of the age, such a tragedy
of the family is a common phenomenon.
10. Whats your interpretation of the title of the story Everyday Use?
Everyday Use conveys that culture and heritage are neither name changes nor different hair;
they are not something to be adopted for the sake of a trend but to be taught from one
generation to the next. This concept of tradition is exemplified through the quilts, the common
symbol for heritage. In the story, both the mother and Maggie know how to quilt and are aware
that quilts, in order to be kept alive, must be put to Everyday Use.
11. Where is the inner horror from? How is the effect of horror created? (The Tell-Tale Heart)
In the story, the eye of the old man makes the narrator feels horror. Besides the theme of the
'eye,' there are two primary motifs: the idea of time, and the identification of the narrator with
the old man. The narrator says at various points in the story that he knows what the old man is
feeling as he lies alone in bed, for he himself has felt the same things. He says the moan the old
man makes does not come from pain or grief, but from mortal terror that arises from the bottom
of the soul overcharged with awe. The narrator's strong identification with the old man and his
obsession with the eye, suggests that the narrator really wishes to destroy the 'I,' that is, himself.
Indeed, by destroying the old man's eye, the narrator indirectly destroys himself in the end by
exposing himself as the murderer.
12. The story The Demon Lover is set in the war time and in a shuttered house. Whats the
significance of the setting?