Fiction, Point of view

In one document, collect your answers to the following questions about your readings in this unit. These questions are split into three categories: literal, interpretive, and applied. Literal questions simply ask you about the most basic elements of a text. You can answer these questions in a sentence or two. Interpretive questions ask you to read between the lines. Interpretation encourages you to explore, discover, and explain what is not directly stated by the text. Thus, you need to use evidence from the text to support your analysis. You should write 1-2 paragraphs on these questions.Applied questions ask you to connect the readings to the world beyond. Using details and evidence from the text, you’ll explain how literature is helping you see the world around you in a new light. You should write 1-2 paragraphs on these questions. Be sure to read each question carefully and answer every part of the question! Please also use at least one quote or example for each interpretive and applied answer.Literal Questions1. Why was Sonny in trouble at the beginning of “Sonny’s Blues”? 2. What recent family tragedy (unrelated to Sonny) has the narrator faced in “Sonny’s Blues”? 3. Near the end of “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves,” what event do the nuns put on for the girls and the brothers? Interpretive Questions4. How is this story, titled “Sonny’s Blues,” actually the narrator’s story more than Sonny’s? What are his “blues” and how is this the story of his change?5. “Sonny’s Blues” is not told in straightforward, chronological order. The scenes describing the main action are mixed up with several flashbacks. Choose one flashback and explain what it reveals about the narrator and his relationship with Sonny.6. Sonny has a difficult time explaining why music is so important to him. Having read the story, try explaining it yourself. Use evidence from the text to build your own interpretive argument: why is music so important to Sonny? 7. Why is “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves” narrated in first-person plural (“we”) and singular (“I”)? How does this point-of-view choice affect the way the story is told?8. Midway through “St. Lucy’s Home…” Claudette claims, “The pack hated Jeanette, but we hated Mirabella more.” Why do these two members of the pack stand out? Why do you think the pack is more frustrated by Mirabella than Jeanette or do you think Claudette’s claim is not quite true? Applied Questions 9. Choose a story — to what extent is the narrator of this story unreliable (i.e. they aren’t presenting the “truth” of the events as objectively as a third-person narrator would)? What causes this unreliability? What do you think the story gains by being told from this unique perspective? 10. On the literal level, “St. Lucy’s Home…” is a fun story about wolf-girls adapting to human society. On a metaphorical level, it also has a lot to say about group dynamics. Choose one scene that you think best dramatizes the way that people interact with one another in groups. How does this scene compare to your own experience or observations? Remember to be detailed in describing events from the story and from your own life.