1.) Discuss the mother in this story. What kind of person is she? How does she seem to feel about Dee? About Maggie?
Short Stories Readings & Questions Week 9
Ellison A Party at the Square Discussion Questions
1.) Discuss the mother in this story. What kind of person is she? How does she seem to feel about Dee? About Maggie?
2.) Do the narrator’s language and grammatical usage match the picture she paints of herself?
3.) What elements prepare the reader for Dee before she arrives on the scene?
4.) How did Dee relate to her family before she left home? What role did she assume for herself? Does this change after she leaves home?
5.) How do you feel about Dee? Do you sympathize with her desire to “improve” herself and her family? Where do you think she goes wrong?
6.) Discuss the relationship between Maggie and Dee.
7.) What is suggested by Dee’s prolonged picture-taking with her Polaroid? Her kissing her mother on the forehead?