94. Questions
answer the following questions each question could should be a maximum of 100-150 words.
1.Can you give examples of literary or popular culture texts (books, films, songs, poems, and so on) in which the female character or figure exists primarily to fulfill a need in the male character or protagonist rather than as an independent, fully realized character in her own right? Why do you think these kinds of texts are still being produced?
2.Cixous discusses the limitations of organizing our world through binary oppositions: male/female, culture/nature, reason/madness etc. In each set of oppositions the first term is priviliged over the other, thus creating uneven power relations. Do you believe that we cannot get away from this kind of binary oppositional thinking? Can we organize our comprehension of the world without relying on this type of approach? Suggest ways of doing so
3.Have you ever reacted badly to the death of a favourite character (in any medium): so badly, even, that you are tempted to try to do something about it? If so, examine the “why” of this reaction. What impulse do you think was behind your need to get the character back? Do you feel the same way now? Do you see the reaction as logical or not? If you have not ever felt this way, either discuss why you think people may sometimes do so, or talk about your own reactions to the death of a favourite character. Is there, or should there be, a difference in how we see the death of a cherished character and the death of a real person (even a real person we have never met, such as a movie star)?
4.Is Sawyer’s story a critique of, a parody of, or a tribute to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, or do you see it as having some other relation to the original Holmes stories? Discuss.