Reading:
Charles W. Chesnutt (479-81), "The Wife of His Youth," 488-96
Mark Twain (101-4), Selections from Life on the Mississippi, 491-8, 500-2 PDF
Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein, "On Closer Examination" PDF
Extra Credit: Print both course packets and place them in a binder
1. After completing the story in full, direct your attention to the last full paragraph on page 491. Carefully note how Chesnutt uses languages in his passage. What are some of the most important choices in diction that Chesnutt makes in this section? What words jump out to you? What seems especially figurative? Why?
2. On page 490 (shortly after the second section begins), Chesnutt's narrator presents us the poetry that Mr. Ryder is reading. What is significant about Tennyson's "A Dream of Fair Women" in the context of the larger story? In answering this question, focus particularly on the linguistic features on the text. It's not just what is said, but how it is said.
3. Graff and Birkenstein write that literary critics identify the conflicts apparent in a text. What is the conflict that motivates Chesnutt's story? How does it resolve itself? Does Chesnutt take a side in this conflict?
