Quiz 4/ Essay Questions

• David Foster Wallace’s “Good People” (149-155)
1. Directions: Write a minimum of a college-level paragraph that responds to the following textbook question on page 155. (10 points)
How is your interpretation of Lane Dean Jr.’s character and conflicts shaped by all that the story withholds from us, including dialogue; Sheri’s point of view or thoughts; explicit information about the nature of Sheri’s “appointment” or of the “it” he “wished . . . never happened” (par. 3); a description of a what actually happens at the end rather than Lane Dean’s “vision” of what would happen and/or his later “belie[f]” about what happened?
• Anton Chekhov’s “The Lady with the Dog” (164-178)
2. Directions: Write a minimum of a college-level paragraph that responds to the following textbook question on page 179. (5 points)
What is Gurov’s attitude toward his affair with Anna at the outset? What is Anna’s attitude? What are some indications that both Gurov and Anna are unprepared for the relationship that develops between them?
• Judith Ortiz Cofer’s “Volar” (196-198)
3. Directions: Write a minimum of a college-level paragraph that responds to the following textbook question on page 198. (5 points)
What does the story suggest about how the characters have been shaped by their environment? About how they feel about it, and why?
• Sample Writing: Essay “The Importance of Good Setting: How Setting Reflects Emotions in Anton Chekhov’s ‘The Lady with the Dog’” (199-204)
4. Directions: Write a minimum of a college-level paragraph that responds to the following textbook question on page 199. (15 points)
Read the essay responsively and critically, taking time to consider the details Steven chooses to highlight and the way he interprets them. Does he manage to build a convincing and thorough argument about the role of setting in “The Lady with the Dog”? What other details from the story might deserve a place in this argument? In particular, notice how Steven concentrates on temporal setting (the seasons) while commenting only briefly on spatial setting and on the interconnections between time and space in the story. If Steven were your classmate, what three things would you suggest he most needs to do in order to improve the essay in revision?