"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant

DQ1 - You read a number of stories for last week's class. What you need to do for this week's first discussion post is look back at one of the stories that troubled you in some way; that is, a story that left you with unanswered questions in terms of characters, plot, theme, et cetera. Now that you've engaged in a number of discussions about stories, go back and read that story again and describe how your understanding of it has changed. How do you see it differently? How has your understanding of it grown and gotten more sophisticated? Finally, what have you learned that will help you read more effectively in the future?At first, it was very confusing and hard for me to understand the short story "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson. For the person reading the title for the first time, he/she might think that the story is actually about a lottery event that had taken place. The winner of the lottery takes home a reward. Well, after engaging a number of discussions about stories, I re-read the story with a more open mind. This made me have a clear understanding of the irony the author was trying to portray in the short story. I learned that the author has also used suspense at the end of the story, and one cannot tell if Tessie was killed or was spared by the mob. One thing I have learned is "never judge a story by its title." The author might as well use irony to make the story a little more confusing which also makes the story even more attractive. One reading strategy I have learned is making a pause and asking myself if what I read makes sense. This will help me in evaluating what the author is trying to portray. This will make me seek for more precise information in the rest of the texts.

DQ2 - Oedipus is clearly the main character in "Oedipus the King" and you'll get a chance to write extensively about Oedipus for this week's paper. For this discussion post, however, I want you to focus on Oedipus's wife/mother, Jocasta. What do you make of her? How/why is she able to deny the truth for so long, even though there seems to be sufficient evidence to indicate Oedipus is her son? What do you make of her suicide? What role does she play in Oedipus's downfall? To what extent are the events of the play her fault? To what extent is she the one being punished by Apollo? Is she a tragic hero? Why or why not? Use textual evidence to support your answers.