Challenge 1076

Reasonable Choices

1. In Huina Zheng’s The Price of Words: At the very end, what is meant by the rain that symbolizes Jun’s worry? How might it relate to the danger that might ensue unless or when the goverment takes action?

2. In Charles C. Cole’s Swain and Althea readers will find, throughout, a systematic illustration of a rhetorical principle: the function of anything in a text can be determined by simply omitting it.

   For example, take the first sentence: “Swain Clatchee, community lay minister, and Althea Grover sat in the front seat of Swain’s black Ford Ranger, holding hands and listening to the gentle drumming of a spring shower.” Omit any coherent detail. What information is lost concerning Swain Clatchee and Althea Grover?

3. In Harrison Kim’s When I Lay My Goodness Down: What does the narrator mean by laying his goodness down?

4. In John Dominic Crossan’s God & Empire: Why does empire ultimately prove irreconcilable with a democracy or a republic?

5. In Jeffrey Greene’s The Summons:

   1. In this story, what assumptions does the state make about individuals’ capacities to perform the duties to which they are summoned? In which cases are the assumptions justified? In which cases are they revealed to be mistaken?

   2. When is the main character called “Andy” and when is he referred to as “Mr. Aaron”?

   3. Executioners are apparently chosen in order from an alphabetical list. Might one infer that the list includes both men and women?

   4. In the Middle Ages, executions were as cruel as the one proposed in the story, but they were performed in public. Who held the responsibility for them, if not the torchbearer? Why might the execution in the story constitute a kind of state secret?

   5. Why does Mr. Aaron burn Vernadore’s receipt? Why is he afraid that someone might be watching?

   
   

   Responses welcome!

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