I. Reflections based on the story

1.What happened in ¡§The Zebra Story Teller¡¨?

How would you  retell the story to your friend, a

college student, or a  child, or even your grandma or

grandpa? What is the most interesting thing in the

story for you? Why?
 
 

2.Who are the characters in the story? What kind of

human personality do they have? What kind of

association can you draw from observing these

characters?

 

3.For instance, how do you like the zebra

storyteller? What does he do in the story? What is

the function of a storyteller? Why do you think he

sees through the Siamese Cat's disguise? What

does the Cat represent? And what do the other

zebras represent?
 


4.Can you find anything special about the setting,

the time and place of the story? What would have

happened if the story  were set in a different time

and place, like Taiwan here and  now, or a high

school class, or a dessert in mainland China,  or say,

in a martial arts world?
 
 

5.In some way, the disguise and language of the Cat

suggest symbolic meanings. What do you think his

disguise mean or what  do you think is the function

of language here in the story?

II. Questions for further thoughts

1.The zebra story teller can be seen as

an epitome of the  writers we are going to

read in the following year or  throughout

the literature courses in the coming

years. Whatdo  you think we can gain from

the zebra storyteller¡¦s  experience?
 
 

2.What do you think would be the

functions of story telling?
 
 

 

3.Do you read stories, plays or poems?

What do you think are  the functions of

these literary works?
 


  4.Even if what we are reading here may be

fiction, something  made up, even though

the reading may be difficult and hard

to  understand, what do you think the

imaginary world presented in  literature,

verbal art, can do for us?

III.Personal Reflections:

What is your personal response to the

story and the course after you finished

reading the story, answering the 

questions, and listening to the class

discussions?

 

 

Please answer two of the following questions

1.What is your reaction to this

story?

2.What is the theme of this story?

3.Describe the main character?

4.Discuss the time and the setting

of this story.

 

Writing Exercise for ¡§Paul's Case¡¨

Please answer in a few sentences Two of the following questions:

1.What kind of person is Paul? Sample

2.What is the point of view in the story? Sample

What is achieved by this point of view?

3.What is the conflict here in the story?

4.What is your reaction to the story? Sample

¡@¡@

Please answer in a few sentences Two of the following questions:

1.What is your reaction to the story? Please respond

with good supporting details you got from reading the

story.

2.What kind of feelings does the setting create in the

story?

3.What is the point of view in the story? What is

achieved by this point of view? What kind of person is

the narrator? What is your response to her? In

comparison to the narrator in ¡§A Cask of

Amontillado,¡¨do you trust the narrator better? Why or

why not?

¡@

4.What is the narrator doing in the story? How does

she respond to the scenes and people she sees on the

journey?

In the following, please pick up three words and make complex sentences with the words.

St. Paul's Church

Phonetics (a branch of linguistics dealing with the study of the sounds of speech)

Chivied (worried and hounded)

Age of upstarts

Sanscrit (an ancient Indic language, the classical literary language of India)

Mendacity (dishonesty)

Pharisaic (hypocritically self-righteous; a pharisasee is a member of an ancient Jewish sect that emphasized strict interpretation and observance of the Mosaic law.)

Essay questions: Please answer the following questions with a paragraph that has a topic sentence.

1.What is your response to the reading of drama so far? You may want tocompare it to your reading of fiction in your answer.

In the following, please pick up three words and make complex sentences with the words.

Pedantic (1113, stressing trivial details of learning)

Ferocity (1120, being extremely fierce and cruel, savage)

Morosely (1112, sullenly melancholy)

Legitimate (1123, lawful)

Fraud (1112, one who practices deception; imposter)

Essay questions: Please answer ONE of the following questions with a paragraph that has a topic sentence.

1.Please comment on Higgins' personality basing on

what you have seen about him (i.e. the note-taker, the

host/teacher in his lab, and the son inMrs. Higgins at

home). Higgins is described by his mother as being

¡§cynical¡¨when he makes his " we're all savages"

speech. This should remind you of his other statement

about life's being a "series of inspired follies.¡¨ Do you

also think that he is too cynical?

 

2.Please comment on Eliza's change from Act I to Act

III. How does her change of dresses tell you about her

¡§transformation¡¨? How does her language change?

How does her behaviors and manners change? Do

you think that she has changed her personality? Why

or why not? How would you describe her performance

in Mrs. Higgins at home party? How would you

describe her performance at the party at an embasy?

How would you describe her appearance?

 

3.Nepommuck. In what way is he different from

Higgins? How does he use his knowledge in his

career as an interpreter? What is your response when

he calls Eliza a fraud?