Problem
Prompt:
1) How would you describe the tone (dominant mood or feeling indicating the attitude of the text to its subject matter) of the story? What does the disjunction between tone and subject matter here achieve?
2) How can this be read, thematically, as a story about the American dream in an era of diminished economic horizons for many Americans? Think about Freddy's speech at the Italian restaurant after Aunt Bernie's funeral: what mentality does it offer and do the cases of Aunt Bernie's life and what the narrator has to do to pull his family out of a poor, dangerous living environment support this viewpoint?
3) What is the story saying thematically about the nature of the working poor and sex work?
4) Can the references here to junk food and bad reality television be read as part of a thematic critique of aspects of contemporary American social life?