In separate 250 word posts, respond to the following:

1) Who is the narrator of Baldwin's "Going to Meet the Man"? Is there an irony in the fact that Baldwin, who is black, wrote this story? What is the major conflict in the narrative and how else is irony presented? Is our narrator a hypocrite or do we learn that his behavior and views were taught to him in a legitimate way?

2) What are the settings, both time and place, of Morrison's story "Recitatif" and how and why are they significant? Does it matter when the story took place, or where? Also, what is the main struggle of the protagonist? Is she a sympathetic character? How is this story demonstrative of postmodernist technique?

3) Look at Roethke's poems "My Papa's Waltz" and "I knew a Woman" and describe the relationships presented in each poem. Who are the characters and how are they described? Is there more than the literal narrative happening? What metaphors are presented in these poems that change the surface interpretation of the poem?

4) In "For the Union Dead" how are the images of nature and the images of industry compared? What argument is Lowell making by placing the images beside each other and how do these images advance the overall idea of the poem?