Finalized list of graded discussion questions for Old School chap. 3-6

These are the questions we, as a class, chose to focus on for our up-coming graded discussion. 

For our discussion you need to prepare notes. 

For each question, write down your ideas, page numbers with passages you want to examine, and connections you want to make.  You should write either a lengthy paragraph or a lengthy list of developed items for each question.

Do your prep work on a piece of paper that you can bring to seminar, not as a comment on this blog.

TOP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR OLD SCHOOL CHAP. 3-6

 

1.       What is Bill White writing that makes him so upset and exhausted?  What is going on with his relationship with the narrator?  Why don’t they really talk?  Why do they hold back so much?  How does that kind of relationship affect them, positively and negatively?

2.       Explore the world of “Randism” and what is would look like in real life.  Is it possible today?  Is it desirable?

 

3.       What is the significance of the scene where Jeff Purcell rejects the chapel visits?  Why is that scene there?  What are his motives?  What role does Big Jeff play in his decision?

 

4.       What is the narrator’s relationship with his school?  Does he value it?  How does that change and why?  Explore the narrator’s decision to use the story he found entitled “Summer Night.”  Why is this his vehicle for revealing himself?  Why is he plagiarizing? 

 

5.       What is the truth behind the narrator’s background and why is it significant?  If he revealed it, would it matter?  How do we know?

 

6.       Why are the school and narrator left unnamed?


On the side:  why is chapter six entitled "The Forked Tongue?"