"A Bottomless Grave"

1. The characters of the mother and the father are two very interesting contrasting
characters. The mother, in her words, seems to be a very nurturing and kind soul,
yet her actions are harsh and deprived of any kind of human decency. She
shows her children affection, yet tries to kill her husband and encourages her
children to kill and bury strangers for no real reason. It is a clever twist on the
stereotypical caring mother that many stories describe.
The father is also very interesting, despite the fact that we see so little of him. He
clearly trusts his wife in the beginning, which is why he is willing to eat her food,
and he does not run away even after he is buried alive and manages to pull
himself out of his own grave. He seems to want to be with his family and almost
be included in their actions, but is too afraid to present himself, possibly in fear
that they will kill him fully this time, or that it will cause their family much legal
trouble. He seems to be involved with the same murderous actions as the wife,
yet he also seems to be almost too passive for her, which is why she attempts to
kill him and why he never speaks up.
2. The narrator is not very reliable or trustworthy. He is the son of a woman who can
kill and condone murder so easily, and being raised by her, he feels similarly. We
can see how his mindset of the world has been controlled by her and solely her
when he discusses his political opinions, saying that his mother was a
Republican and had taught her what she believed to be the best principles for
government (p.2). Because of how much she controls his mind set, we cannot
say that he is reliable in conveying the story.
3. This story is told in a traditional format - starting with exposition (describing the
family’s dynamic), a complication (the family seemingly being haunted by a ghost
in the cellar), a falling action (the house burning down and mother and few
children getting away), and a resolution (the narrator returning to the scene and
coming to a conclusion about what had happened). While there are a few
complications to that idea, as the father’s death could be seen as the main
conflict of the story, there is still a clear description of a traditional plot outline.

"The Plague of Doves"

1. The generational stories are weaved together in two ways - when the narrator
and Mooshum are actively talking about Mooshum’s life story, and when the
narrator is internally comparing her experiences with what she remembers from
those stories. Weaving them together in such ways helps the plot seem a lot
more focused and highlights the relevant parts of each story and how they
connect to each other. It allows for the reader to see exactly what parts of their
stories are supposed to go together.
 2. A significant detail about the characters that seems to be small is how the
narrator and the brother found out a different way to turn on the television, even
after their father took away the knobs. It’s another, more subtle way that
compares the children to Mooshum in the way that they are all determined to get
what they want, regardless of how big or small the stakes are.

"King of the Bingo Game"

1. The main character can’t release the button because he knows that, if he doesn’t
win, he would never get the treatment for Laura and she would most likely die.
The button therefore represents the inbetween of these two realities - one where
Laura lives, and one where she dies. So long as the wheel keeps spinning and
the button is pressed, she won’t die, but she also may not live. But once the
spinning stops, her fate is determined. The main character, in this moment, has
full control over this woman’s life, and thinks that, for this second, he is God and
that the onlookers are envious of his power, when in reality, he is too scared to
release the button and realize that his efforts didn’t matter in the long run.
2. The main character is never named in order to make him seem more relatable to
the audience. He is almost not a character himself, but a projection of the
audience’s likely feelings towards the proposed subject of gambling to save
someone’s life. Since the main character isn’t identified, the audience can have
an easier time relating to them and understanding his mindset as he holds onto
the button.

"Shiloh"
1. The setting mostly takes place within the characters’ house, which forces them to
interact with each other and be within each other’s presence in most of the
scenes. With such a confined space, conversation and plot happen naturally, and
it’s easier to see minor changes in behavior, such as Norma hiding away more
often. This story would struggle to happen in a different place because most
other settings have more room and variance, making it less suspicious when
characters don’t interact.
2. The beginning of the story sets up Leroy and Norma Jean as independent,
determined characters, with depictions of Norma being a bodybuilder and having
her own job she knows much about, and Leroy as a truck driver used to being far
away from home. With Leroy being injured, he tries to find other ways to be
independent, like creating things for the house and trying to make a cabin, but
none of them are successful, and Norma’s absence from these descriptions
makes her seem very uninterested in his hobbies and actions.
 3. The closing scene takes place on a battlefield to show the battle that is Leroy’s
and Norma’s relationship. Like the real Battle of Shiloh, they are fighting with
each other to try and make their relationship work, but eventually, one party
retreats (that being Norma, who already has ties to the Confederates through
Mabel’s descriptions of their family). However, the party that doesn’t retreat
(Leroy, a stand in for the Union) suffers more casualties, as he is the one who
didn’t want to break up and had his heart broken there.

"A Rose for Emily"

1. The narrator is a culmination of the community as a whole and expresses the

feelings that the whole town has about her - that she is odd and strange, and
pitiful after her father dies - while also being knowledgeable about her oddities,
like the fact that she does not pay taxes. The narrator is not tied to a certain
character and says nothing throughout the story, and uses pronouns like “we”
and “our”, but never “I”, showing that they are not a true character/
2. The story is broken up into 5 parts to focus on different aspects of Emily’s life in
the way that best highlights the mysteries about her. This division makes it much
easier to see what those oddities are, and it introduces them in a way that makes
the most sense when trying to describe a character - if told chronologically, it
would not have as good of a hook as starting off with her death, and would not so
well describe her shifting relationship with the townsfolk.

"Araby"

1. The diction feels very simple, as if the narrator is a child doing his best to
accurately describe the world around him but not quite having the language and
grammar skills to do so. There are quite a few run on sentences, as well as
repetitive descriptions of his surroundings, which wouldn’t be seen if the narrator
were an educated adult. It contributes to the overall story by characterizing the
narrator as young and naive, setting the scene for later conflict.
2. There is a lot of religious language used throughout the piece - the Christian
Brother’s School, the dead priest, and Mangan’s talk of going on a retreat with
her convent. It helps describe why the narrator is still decently descriptive for his
young age, as it would be expected for a Christian boy in private school, and also
creates an added character that the narrator feels the need to serve and refer to,
that being God.
3. Light and Dark are used by Joyce to empathize what is good and holy (light) and
what is bad and should be stayed away from (dark). When the children are
outside having fun, and when they are returning home, they are surrounded by
light. When they are hiding from the narrator’s uncle, and in the end when the
narrator is at the bazaar were he feels he should not be, the scenes are
described as dark. It creates the sense of right and wrong that the narrator is
discovering as he goes through his life and tries to figure out what is the right
thing to be doing.