Challenge 719

Overhearing Wins and Losses

The nature of comedy and tragedy is illustrated by Dana Beehr’s “Ambry Silverstrings and Walkin’ Pete” and A. A. Khayyat’s “Do You Wish to Proceed?”
1. Which story is tragedy and which is comedy? Why?
2. What elements of comedy and tragedy are present in both stories?
In Ada Fetters’ “Safe as Houses”:
1. What chronic problems does Jaive have to deal with?
2. Are psychic abilities learned or inherited?
3. What is the function of Kendra?
In Stephen Ellams’ “The Art of Letting Go,” why does the narrator say he is leaving? What seems to be lacking in the relationship?
In Edward Ahern’s “Yard Party,” if you overhear a conversation at a card game, you can tell by intonation alone — even if you can’t make out the words — whether the players are playing for money. What similar effect might “Yard Party” illustrate?
In Mike Acker’s “The Lego Man”:
1. What is the function of Lego blocks? Could some other kind of construction toy have been used as an image?
2. What does it mean that the Lego man is “low-key”?
3. Why is the car “pixellated”? What might the Lego man’s injury mean?