Unbearable Light

“‘You’ll find out one of these days, you’ll find out
what Reality is when it’s too late!’” (510).
Flannery O'Connor's "Greenleaf" (1956; 1965)

Flannery O'Connor's "Greenleaf" (1956; 1965)

1. this story’s very first line establishes the Greenleaf family's bothersome bull as akin to “some patient god come down to woo” Mrs. May (501).  Is this a throwaway reference, or does it provide the tale with impetus and direction?
2. is Mr. Greenleaf, Mrs. May’s tenant and primary farm hand, as “shiftless” and lacking in initiative (503) as Mrs. May believes?
3. the narrator first references Mrs. Greenleaf as one Mrs. May can’t bear to think about, one whose behavior should shame her sons (503)—a “large and loose” woman (505).  Is this import of this sinister allusion borne out?  Are Mrs. Greenleaf’s actions as reprehensible as Mrs. Greenleaf’s imagination implies?
4. is Mrs. May a good, respectable Christian?  You must, of course, deftly define the key terms in the question to answer this prompt.
5. consider O’Connor’s employment of the sun: what symbolic role does this bright orb play throughout the story?
6. to what does Mrs. May attribute the success of the Greenleaf boys, O.T. and E.T., and do her own boys measure up by comparison?
7. what regularly stokes Mrs. May’s anxiety, and what reliably calms her nerves?
8. is Mrs. May right to think O.T. and E.T. Greenleaf thankless, particularly in light of all she’s done for them in the past (518-19)?
9. is Mrs. May likely correct in what her she envisions about Mr. Greenleaf in his absence (521-23); is her imagination reliable?
10. does this tale have a happy or a tragic ending?

Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim (1900), chps. 1-7

1. Conrad quickly intimates that some as-yet-unnamed “fact” pursues Jim (8), yet refrains from immediately identifying that nature of that fact/event; he doles out details very, very slowly.  Does this create in the first-time reader a delightful sense of suspense, or is his reticence infuriating?  At what points does Conrad add key bits of information that help us complete this ghostly portrait of the novel’s core occurrence?
2. does the first narrator betray any opinions concerning his characters and their actions, or does he reserve judgment and remain detached?
3. what of our second narrator, Marlow; is his an unbiased perspective?
4. Conrad’s first and omniscient narrator suggests that the “Imagination” is “the enemy of men” (12 top).  Does this prove to be the case for Jim, or does his imagination empower him?
5. does this novel, filled as it is with carefully constructed passages and phrases, suggest that words can accurately and deftly convey truth?
6. does the novel suggest it is impossible to read another person’s appearance accurately?
7. are we to agree with Marlow's declaration--and the authorities' conclusion--that any evidence to be gained from the mentally unbalanced chief engineer is not "material" (37)?
8. is Nature beneficent or cruel, compassionate or capricious?  Does it guide or confuse?
9. why does Marlow talk so long (39-45) about the peripheral Captain Brierly?
10. what draws Jim and Marlow towards one another?
11. why does Jim share his story with Marlow?
12. why does Marlow desire to learn about Jim from the (now insane) chief engineer in teh hospital where Marlow discovers him while visiting one of his own men?
13. does Marlow consider Jim heroic or blameworthy? Does he believe he would have himself acted otherwise than Jim did during the crisis faced by the Patna?

Sky Blue (1940)
Wassily Kandinsky

Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu