Challenge 1025

The Rules? Guess.

In Gary Inbinder’s The Hanged Man: Does Max Niemand have any reasons to suspect that Abe Levitsky’s death might be murder rather than suicide?
In Joey and Conrad: Why might Max Niemand think that Mary O’Neill’s demeanor with him may nor may not be sincere?
In Jeffrey Greene’s The King’s Memory: The King’s reputation for being the source of truth in his kingdom is undermined by his failing memory. Can you imagine a scenario in which the King becomes aware that his subjects have been lying to him in order to maintain his delusion that he still has a perfect memory?
In P. Fern Phillips’ The God of Chickens: The pastor asks Louise to lend him an image of an angel for his church’s Christmas pageant. She gives it to him to keep, saying it isn’t an angel at all but an image of the “God of Gossip.” What “gossip” might have caused Louise to become socially isolated from her community and family?
In Gary Clifton’s Dancin’ the Chicken: Why does Muldoon overtly imply that McCoy is “chicken,” i.e. a coward? Is he saying something that everyone but Georgie knows?
In Shola Balogun’s Beauty Twice: What might be the “seed” of immortality?
In Huina Zheng’s The Correct Way: The child, Ming, is about 8 or 9 years old and is perhaps in the third grade of elementary school. How would you help Ming understand the composition assignment?

Keep in mind the “rules of the game”: The teacher cannot tell the class that the assignment only appears to be a free composition; it is actually a test of the pupils’ absorption of cultural dogma. How would you help Ming — a pupil in the third grade — navigate this world of unspoken rules?

Bonus question: Does any of the Fables of Jean de La Fontaine (1621-1695) — written in the age of the absolute monarch Louis XIV — provide a story that might help young Ming understand eventually what is going on? For starters, The Cricket and the Ant has an equivocal moral but, while it illustrates irreconcilable viewpoints, it does not seem to relate directly to Ming’s dilemma.

Responses welcome!