Strindberg, The Stronger, 867
Ives, Words, Words, Words, 1067
NOTE: There are questions on two plays on this page. Choose only one question, about one play, to answer.
Directions: You are required to answer one of the main questions, which will appear in bold. This question is due no later than Thursday, Apr. 19. Following that will be other questions which you should read and think about--they may help you answer the main question. However, you are not required to answer these questions in writing.
Please answer the question as thoughtfully as possible, after reading the lecture. Then post your answer to the English 102 Message Board by the deadline.
Your responses to other students' answers are due by midnight on Saturday, Apr. 21. In order to get the full 20 points, you MUST respond thoughtfully to at least 3 or 4 other people's postings.
If you are registered in Section 7622, you'll use Message Board 1. Click on the button below to visit your Message Board:
If you are registered in Section 7623, you'll use Message Board 2. Click on the button below to visit your Message Board:
Remember: This discussion question is worth a possible 20 points. Late answers will receive 0 points. Points will be assigned according to the thoughtfulness of your answer, not by whether it is "right" or not, since sometimes there is no "right" answer. Just be sure your ideas are supported by the material in the play (see Lecture 1).
Why does Miss Y never speak?
- Why did Strindberg choose to set the play in a ladies' cafe? Why not in a drawing room or other private place?
- Why is the point made in the stage directions that Miss Y has a bottle of beer and Mrs. X has a cup of chocolate?
- Mrs. X says, "home is best--next best to the stage..." (line 3). What does this reveal about her?
- After Mrs. X shoots the toy pistol at Miss Y, she says she didn't try to get in the way of Miss Y's career. Do you believe her?
- Does Mrs. X love her husband? What lines reveal her feelings for him?
- When does Mrs. X figure out that there was an affair between Miss Y and her husband? How does she figure it out?
- How did Mrs. X feel about Miss Y when they first met? Why do you think she felt that way?
- At first, Mrs. X is furious with Miss Y, but then her feelings change. How? Why?
- Mrs. X says, "...As for your affair with Bob, that doesn't worry me in the least." Is she telling the truth?
- Why does the author choose to make one of the toys a gun? And why is it a gift for a girl?
- Why does the author choose slippers as the gift for the husband? Why not a sweater or a tie?
- Which of the two women is the stronger?
The title is an allusion to Hamlet: at one point, Polonius asks Hamlet what he is reading, and Hamlet replies, "Words, words, words." How does this title reflect the themes of the play?
- Why are the monkeys named Swift, Kafka, and Milton?
- Ives specifies that one of the monkeys, Kafka, is a girl; why is this important?
- Ives directs that the monkeys not be dressed in monkey suits, but rather that they be dressed in "the sort of little-kid clothes that chimps wear in circuses." Why might he have made this choice?
- The monkeys talk to each other the way real writers talk to each other; why is this funny?
- What do the monkeys think of Rosenbaum?
- There are a number of quotes from literary works, including Hamlet and Paradise Lost. Why is this ironic?
- Why does it matter to them that someone is paying attention to them?
- What might Ives be saying about writers and their readers? About randomness and destiny?