Challenge 1074

Pointing Our View

In Marina J. Neary’s The Most Promising Cases: How does the story say the Nazis classified people as “unworthy of life” (nicht lebenswert)? Did or do Eugenicists use the same or similar categories? In some 21st-century U.S. political speech, the term “unworthy” has been loosely translated as “losers” and applied broadly. Did the Nazis apply “unworthy” routinely to their soldiers who were wounded, captured or killed in war?
In Brian Brestovac’s Isolation for One:
1. Is Anthea really an agoraphobe (afraid of going outdoors)? By what stages does she begin to overcome her aversion to the presence of crowds?
2. What is the name of the injured man for whom Anthea promises to call an ambulance?
3. What makes Anthea’s lying interesting to the reader? Could the story be told as effectively from a different point of view, particularly the third person, fully omniscient?
In Doug Stoiber’s Sustenance and Verse:
1. How might the quality of Des’s poem be made a little less surprising?
2. What Biblical passage is alluded to in Marlo’s poem of gratitude?
In Matias Travieso-Díaz’s Purple Flower:
1. The name “Leroux” might be considered ironc in view of the character’s infirmity. What does the name mean literally?
2. How might the story be told from a first person, partially omniscient point of view? What changes in emotion might ensue?
In Channie Greenberg’s Short-Story Judge:
1. Why is Amber wrong? What would probably happen if her editors did not pare down the number of submissions from which she is to choose the “best”?
2. Why is Georgie right to complain about her engineering firm’s managers operating as Amber wishes her editors would?

Responses welcome!