XIII. Discussion.

1. Comment on Joe Garner’s words about Indians “Plenty of Indians will kill snakes tonight, I guess”. What did he mean? Do these words reveal his attitude to Indians or simply state the fact? What is the attitude of the whites to Indians? Prove your opinion resorting to the text.

2. Why didn’t Nick confess aloud that his girl friend was an Indian? Did he feel shy or ashamed?

3. Do you think Nick got offended when Carl compared his Indian girl friend with a skunk? Why?

4. Do you think Pruddie’s deed is loathsome? Can her unfaithfulness be acquitted?

5. Why is the story titled “Ten Indians”? Who are they? What unites them? Can you think of a better title for the story? Give your own variant.

6. Can we explain Nick’s attitude to what happened at the end of the story by means of the proverb “Out of sight, out of mind”? Prove it. Is Nick’s sorrow light and bright or deep and agonising? Why?

7. The author uses the lexical metaphor* “My heart’s broken” to depict Nick’s emotional state at the end of the story. Paraphrase it. Could the author have done without this stylistic device? Why/why not? What effect does it produce?

8. Does the author characterize Nick directly (i.e. the author rates the character himself) or indirectly (i.e. the author shows us the character in action, lets us hear him, watch him and evaluate him for ourselves). Find the cases of Nick’s characterization in the text? Which type (direct or indirect) prevails? Why? Give a character sketch of Nick. What kind of person was he? Try to use at least 10 adjectives to present him.

9. What have you learnt about love from this story? Does it conform to your concept of love?

*The metaphor is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable. The metaphor implies traceable similarity, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid. But unlike the simile there is no formal element to indicate comparison (e.g., I was not a hawk). The lexical metaphor is a commonly reproduced lexical unit. It is called dead or trite being an integral part of the word’s semantic structure. (e.g., Time flies.).

WRITING ACTIVITIES

XIV. Summarize the story in 20 sentences. Read your summary aloud in class and explain why you have chosen these very sentences.

XV. Continue the story by writing a paragraph (100 words) describing Nick’s feelings and thoughts.

XVI. Imagine you are a journalist. You’ve been asked to write a brief article (200 words) for a local newspaper covering the celebration of the 4^th of July in Petoskey.