Challenge 790

Brush Back

1. In Takane Kiuchi’s A Balloon Seller, an owl offers helpful advice. Does the owl symbolize wisdom in all cultures? Where might other animals play that role?

2. In Morris J. Marshall’s The Bottle Man, does the narrator sell or keep Sal Jasinski’s violin?

3. In Mohan Pandey’s Beyond Trail’s End, people sometimes do strange things. What might seem odd — perhaps exceedingly odd — about the hiker’s choice of mountain woodland trek and his personal relationships?

4. In Richard Ong’s The Revenant’s Gift:

   1. Is the revenant Marianne, does she look like Marianne, or is she the artist’s personal Muse?
   2. Does the illustration seem to have anything to do with the story?

5. In Robin Helweg-Larsen’s Darwin:

   1. Did humans emerge from Africa earlier than 200,000 years ago? Did our earlier cousins spread across Eurasia before that time?
   2. Does the poem take an anthropocentric view of creation?

6. In Bill Kowaleski’s Andrew’s Gift:

   1. Does Ms. Mehmed’s presence seem fortuitous, especially since Andrew’s gift is rare?
   2. Does Andrew’s father, John, conclude that America is a disappointment and not very different from Bosnia?



Responses welcome!

Copyright © December 17, 2018 by Bewildering Stories
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