A Rose for Emily

1. How might this story be rewritten as a piece of formula
fiction? You could write it as a romance, detective, or horror
story — whatever strikes your fancy. Does Faulkner’s version have elements
of formulaic fiction?

2. What is the effect of the final paragraph of the story? How does it
contribute to your understanding of Emily? Why is it important
that we get this information last rather than at the beginning of the
story?

3. Contrast the order of events as they happen in the story with the
order in which they are told. How does this plotting create interest
and suspense?

4. Faulkner uses a number of gothic elements in this plot: the imposing
decrepit house, the decayed corpse, and the mysterious secret horrors
connected with Emily’s life. How do these elements forward the
plot and establish the atmosphere?

5. In what sense does the narrator’s telling of the story serve as “A Rose
for Emily”? Why do you think the narrator uses we rather than I?

6. Explain how Emily’s reasons for murdering Homer are related to her
personal history and to the ways she handled previous conflicts.

7. Discuss how Faulkner’s treatment of the North and South contributes
to the meaning of the story.

Bartleby:

1. How does the lawyer’s description of himself serve
to characterize him? Why is it significant that he is a lawyer? Are his
understandings and judgments about Bartleby and himself always
sound?

2. Why do you think Turkey, Nippers, and Ginger Nut are introduced
to the reader before Bartleby?

3. Describe Bartleby’s physical characteristics. How is his physical
description a foreshadowing of what happens to him?

4. How does Bartleby’s “I would prefer not to” affect the routine of
the lawyer and his employees?

5. What is the significance of the subtitle: “A Story of Wall Street”?

6. Who is the protagonist? Whose story is it?

7. Does the lawyer change during the story? Does Bartleby? Who is
the antagonist?

8. What motivates Bartleby’s behavior? Why do you think Melville
withholds the information about the Dead Letter Office until
the end of the story? Does this background adequately explain
Bartleby?

A Soldier’s Home:

1. The title, “Soldier’s Home,” focuses on the setting.
Do you have a clear picture of Krebs’s home? Describe it, filling in
missing details from your associations of home, Krebs’s routine, or
anything else you can use.

2. What does the photograph of Krebs, the corporal, and the German
girls reveal?

3. Belleau Wood, Soissons, the Champagne, St. Mihiel, and the
Argonne were the sites of fierce and bloody fighting. What effect
have these battles had on Krebs? Why do you think he won’t talk
about them to the people at home?

4. Why does Krebs avoid complications and consequences? How has
the war changed his attitudes toward work and women? How is
his hometown different from Germany and France? What is the
conflict in the story?

5. Why do you think Hemingway refers to the protagonist as Krebs
rather than Harold?

How to Tell a True War Story:

1. Trace the narrator’s comments about what constitutes a true war story. What do you think these competing and contradictory ideas finally add up to?

2. Characterize the narrator. Why must he repeatedly "keep on telling" his war story?

3. Consider O’Brien’s use of profanity and violence in this story. Do you think they are essential or merely sensational?