Challenge 708

The Power of Suggestion

In Charles C. Cole’s “An Early Teacher,”:
1. In what way does Mrs. Odderstol show she is a good teacher?
2. What might indicate that the story is adapted from an incident in real life?
In Shola Balogun’s “I Laugh,” what is the function of the alliterations? Since they are by nature comic, how do they fit the irony of the poem?
In Oonah V. Joslin’s “After Yeats’ “Do Not Hurry, Do Not Rest””:
1. How might the title be footnoted to explain the reference to Yeats?
2. The words “Do not hurry, do not rest” have sometimes been attributed to Goethe. The words seem uncharacteristic of such a dynamic personality. Can you find a source?
In John Van Allen’s “The Fates of Atomic Zombies”:
1. What are “atomic zombies”?
2. How do Vivienne, Scarlett and Morta resemble and differ from the Moirai: Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos?
In Bob Lovely’s “Dust Blind”:
1. Why might the narrator actually want to see John again?
2. How might “old Miss Reynolds” greet the narrator in the afterlife?
3. John is described as a “white guy.” Why? How might the story change if the readers were told that the narrator and others are not “white”?
4. How does John give orders? In what way does he act like a demagogue?
In Gary Clifton’s “Due North From Uvalde”:
1. Why is it significant that Elizabeth does not drop her tray of food?
2. Would anything be gained or lost by Brannigan’s saying goodbye to Elizabeth when he starts out after the bank robbers?
3. What is the narrative function of Brannigan’s not having his rifle when he goes in pursuit of the bank robbers?
4. “Consumption” is a 19th-century term. What is the illness called today?

Responses welcome!