Part I: Although it can be easy to miss, Nick is suffering from what we now know as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The way Nick believes he can heal his body and mind is to fish and camp in nature. How is this survival mode helpful? How is nature helpful? What are some of the metaphors Hemingway uses to describe Nick's mental and physical condition? What might the swamp represent?
Part II: In Hughes' poem "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," he recounts a history of African life in the Americas. How does Hughes create a sense of ancestral and cultural history (past) in "The Negro Speaks of Rivers"?
Part III: In Fitzgerald's "Babylon Revisited," how do you respond to Marion Peters? Is she genuinely concerned for Honoria and rightly suspicious of Charlie? Is she self-righteous? Does she remind you of anyone you have encountered?