Short Answer Responses: Short Stories about Sex and Gender

Choose FIVE of the following eight questions to answer:

1. Which character’s view of love and relationships is most askew? Why?
2. Which of the stories features the couple with the “healthiest” relationship? Likewise, which couple the “unhealthiest” relationship?
3. What does “A Jury of Her Peers” illustrate about the differences in how men and women problem solve?
4. Which female character most actively challenges her gender’s norms? Which male character does?
5. Which story is most optimistic about men and women overcoming their differences to understand one another? Which story is the pessimistic?
6. Of the family relationships presented in these stories, which is the most heartbreaking?
7. Which character did you root for the most?
8. In “Brokeback Mountain,” Proulx’s sympathies clearly lie with Ennis and Jack, but what about their spouses? What price did the men’s wives pay for their husbands’ relationship?

Guidelines:

• All responses should be no more than 10 sentences—open each response with your thesis, then follow with sentences than lean more heavily on evidence than commentary (See example below)
• Be very specific—quote extensively to support your thesis
• Clearly indicate which question you are answering, though questions do not have to be presented in order
• As is traditional in writing about fiction, write in the present tense 
• All titles should be in title case and inside quotation marks 
• All stories can be found in the Dropbox section to the right of this post

Short Answer Example:

In this example, a short answer response is given to a questions about teenagers in the 1950s.

Question-
What was 1950s America’s reaction to the rise of teenager culture in that decade?

Answer-
America reacted to the rise of 1950s teenager culture largely with fear and contempt. The terror teenagers evoked in adults is most evident in the strict school rules put in place in the late 50s. For example, it was then that strict curfews—designed to keep kids off the streets and out of trouble—were more heavily enforced. As Rasmussen points out, “older Americans feared that their youth were going to plunge into lives of sex and crime, so they put in place several regulations to keep them housed, safe from outside temptations.” This was also the period when frightening educational films were shown to kids to “scare them straight” (Kline). These films, like The Bloody Road and Fred the Drunk, graphically warned kids about everything from reckless driving to the perils of underage drinking. Additionally, many older Americans felt that youth were an entitled generation; they felt that kids were becoming increasingly spoiled and, thus, deserved harsher punishments to keep them in line. Hollywood happily reinforced this view with portrayals of lazy young Americans, who felt they were owed an easy upbringing. In these films, teenage characters were often harshly punished for not having the same values as their parents. Perez illustrates this point in his examination of The Father Figure, a 1958 film in which a know-it-all boy meets a grim death in nature by not listening to his dad’s advice about the elements.

Short answer, numbered and annotated-

1. America reacted to the rise of 1950s teenager culture largely with fear and resentment. [A THESIS WHICH CLEARLY AND DEFINITIVELY ANSWERS THE PROMPT]
2. The terror teenagers evoked in adults is most evident in the strict school rules put in place in the late 50s. [BEGINS TO ANSWER THE FIRST PART OF THE THESIS: FEAR]
3. For example, it was then that strict curfews—designed to keep kids off the streets and out of trouble—were more heavily enforced. [OFFERS A CLEAR EXAMPLE: CURFEWS]
4. As Jane Rasmussen points out, “older Americans feared that their youth were going to plunge into lives of sex and crime, so they put in place several regulations to keep them housed, safe from outside temptations.” [EVIDENCE FROM TEXT TO SUPPORT THE “FEAR” PART OF THE THESIS]
5. This was also the period when frightening educational films were shown to kids to “scare them straight” (Kline). [ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF AMERICANS’ FEAR: GRAPHIC EDUCATIONAL FILMS]
6. These films, like The Bloody Road and Fred the Drunk, graphically warned kids about everything from reckless driving to the perils of underage drinking. [PROVIDES SPECIFIC EXAMPLES OF GRAPHIC EDUCATIONAL FILMS]
7. Additionally, many older Americans felt that youth were an entitled generation; they felt that kids were becoming increasingly spoiled and. [TRANSITIONS INTO SECOND PART OF THESIS: RESENTMENT; SETS UP THE VIEW THAT OLDER AMERICANS RESENTED WHAT THEY PERCEIVED WAS TEENAGERS' INCREASING PRIDE AND SENSE OF ENTITLEMENT]
8. Hollywood happily reinforced this view with portrayals of lazy teenagers, who felt they were owed an easy upbringing. [ILLUSTRATES HOW HOLLYWOOD FED THIS RESENTMENT]
9. In these films, teenage characters were often harshly punished for not having the same values as their parents. [HIGHLIGHTS HOW HOLLYWOOD TYPICALLY ACHIEVED THIS]
10. Ian Perez illustrates this point in his examination of The Father Figure, a 1958 film in which a privileged, know-it-all boy meets a grim death in the wilderness by not listening to his dad’s advice about the elements. [CLOSES WITH A SPECIFIC EXAMPLE—FROM THE TEXT—OF HOW TEENAGERS WERE JUSTIFIABLY PUNISHED FOR THEIR PRIDE AND SENSE OF ENTITLEMENT]

Required:

• MLA Style

Due: Wed 11.8/Thu 11.9