Matheny, Brent

1st Period

AP Literature Summer Assignment Short Story Assessments

"Everyday Use": Paragraphs 7-16

For this section of the story, as for the rest of it, the speaker is the unnamed mother of
Dee (Wangero) and Maggie. These paragraphs in particular are not chronologically part of the
story, but in them, Walker provides the reader with vital context and insight into the personalities
and backgrounds of the three main characters, (Dee, Maggie, and their mother). From this
selection one sees Maggie's timidness and the general tragedy that is her life, the resolute nature
of Dee, along with her flight from poverty through education (which her mother was barely able
to fund), and perhaps most importantly the mother's modus operandi of giving everything to Dee
while Maggie mostly watches from the shadows. With the characterization shown in these
paragraphs, the event at the end of the story, Maggie receiving the quilts (even for "everyday
use"), becomes much more significant, as the mother giving preference towards Maggie is
unheard of.

Matheny, Brent
1st Period

The Child by Tiger: Paragraphs 103- 129 (End)

These final four or so pages have the same speaker as the rest of the story, an unnamed
boy who the reader can assume to a close friend of Randy Shepperton. These pages differ from
the others because the events in them take place after the climax, the killing of Dick Prosser;
during the denouement. By not ending the story at its height, Wolfe gives the protagonist a
chance to muse on the events that have occurred, providing him time to show to the reader the
significance of the Dick Prosser incident. By quoting William Blakes poem, The Tyger, Wolfe
asks the reader to look deeper into his prose, beyond the shallowness of an escapist work, which
pushes this story into the realm of interpretive literature. In the final paragraphs, the speaker
ponders where Dick Prosser came from, wondering how such evil could come from him, running
home the point that Dick was a personification of the other side of mans dark soul that is
latent in all of mankind.

There Are a Lot of Ways to Die: Paragraph 132

This speaker in this short story is Joseph Heaven, a carpet and rug merchant living in
what is presumably Trinidad and acting as a self-insert for the author, Neil Bissoondath. The

Matheny, Brent
1st Period

section I chose was the final paragraph, in which Joseph draws a set of ominous shapes and the
short message, I am going back. The shapes represent three different deaths in his life that
have shaped his decision to go back to Toronto. The circle symbolizes the island, a dead place,
from which nothing important ever emerged. The triangle represents the Holy Trinity. Earlier
in the story Joseph claims he lost his sense of religion early on. The last disappointment, the
square, Pacheco House, was Josephs breaking point. By exploring the house, Josephs count of
enchanted objects on the island was entirely eliminated. There would be nothing left from him
there. The only death left to be fulfilled is now his own, which he hopes to postpone by leaving.

A Jury of Her Peers and Trifles

A Jury of Her Peers and Trifles, both written by Susan Glaspell, cover what
is essentially the same story, that in which two women solve a murder case that
men would not be able to, due to their insensitivities to womens psychology. These
two works differ most starkly in their medium, the first is a short story, and the
other is a play. Other differences stem from this bifurcation of media.

Matheny, Brent
1st Period
Both selections are examples of feminist literature. Trifles debuted in 1916
and A Jury of Her Peers was published a year later. The works are clearly a product
of their time. In the early 20th century, womens rights were a very important issue,
and were inspiring many works, in both the preforming arts and literature that
expressed the views that womens rights advocates held. The works in this case
demonstrate the subtle differences in the mens and womens psychology that
cause what men to see as trifles to be serious issues (the murder of the canary),
serious enough to lead to homicide.
The biggest disparity between these two pieces comes from limits imposed
upon them by their media. A Jury of Her Peers is written in third person limited,
focused on Martha Hale. By being written this way, the reader in given the chance
to get as into the characters head as they can without the story being in first
person, which would limit what Glaspell would have been able to do with the other
characters. This way, the author is able to add much more nuanced
characterization and imagery that are simply not possible to do on stage. On stage,
one would not be able to comprehend the wealth of information the two women
share with each in their weighted pauses and silent stares. On stage, one would not
receive the prose describing the heavy atmosphere of the house and everything. All
mood and tone would have to be transmitted through use of actors and props.
In the original production of Trifles, Susan Glaspell herself played Mrs. Hale.
Being the playwright, Glaspell would have had the most insight into how the
character of Mrs. Hale should be portrayed. This would have put on an additional
level of fidelity to the original stage production; allowing the audiences experience
of the work to be closer to that of the playwrights intention. An analogy to this in
the realm of books would be an author preforming a reading of their work. This

Matheny, Brent
1st Period
quality, of course, would cease to be after Glaspell stopped playing the part, but is
entirely absent in A Jury of Her Peers.