Walker's "When the Other Dancer Is the Self"; G. Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant"; & Joan Didion's "Going Home"
After you complete the reading assignment, please respond to at least one question on each of the essays. Feel free to respond to more questions, if you'd like, individually or together in essay form (a couple of paragraphs). In addition to your own response, please comment on posts by your classmates.
1. a) Walker writes her essay by selecting particular moments in her life. What does each moment show? How do these moments relate to Walker's theme? b) What is the effect of ending the essay by recounting a dream? How does the dream relate to the essay's title?
2. a) Why did Orwell shoot the elephant? Account for the motives that led him to shoot, and then categorize them as personal motives, circumstantial motives, social motives, or political motives. Is it easy to assign his motives to categories? Why or why not? b) Facts ordinarily don't speak for themselves. How does Orwell present his facts to make them speak in support of his analytic points? Look, for example, at the death of the elephant (paragraphs 11 to 13). c) In this essay the proportion of narrative to analysis is high Mark each paragraph as narrative or analytic, and note, in particular, how much analysis Orwell places in the middle of the essay. What are the advantages and disadvantages of having it there rather than at the beginning or the end of the essay?
3. a) Joan Didion speaks of herself at home as "paralyzed by the neurotic lassitude engendered by meeting one's past at every turn" (paragraph 3). What about the essay helps explain these feelings? b) Consider the metaphors Didion uses to describe the relationship she has with her family (for example, "guerrilla warfare" in paragraph 3), and the body language she uses to describe interactions with family members (for example, "My mother shrugs" in paragraph 4). Based on your analysis of Didion's use of language, how would you characterize her family relationships? c) In paragraph 6 Didion says she would like to give her daughter "home for her birthday, but we live differently now." In an essay, explain whether or not you think parents today can give their children "home." Include examples to support your argument.