estranged couple getting back together H u m a n i t i e s

This week’s Assignment asks you to exercise your analytical abilities as a reader and thinker. By reading the material and responding to Assignment questions, your analytical skills develop over the course of the semester. This will help you do a good job with our major papers.

This week’s Assignment has two parts. You must complete both to earn the full 10 points.

1A. Even if a person’s material needs, such as food and water and shelter, are provided for, people need more than that. In Jhumpa Lahiri’s fictional short story “Mrs. Sen’s”, we witness the experience of an Indian woman who has moved to the United States.

What needs do you see are not being met for Mrs. Sen? In a full, detailed paragraph that includes one quotation from the story (with page number in parentheses) discuss what need or needs of Mrs. Sen are not being met in her current life.

1B. Second, based upon what the story shows us, is there much she can do to change her life? Briefly discuss what her options seem to be at the end of the story, according to the story.

2. In Ray Carver’s fictional short story “Chef’s House”, we see an estranged couple getting back together. Wes is an alcoholic who is currently sober or “on the wagon” as the expression goes, and his estranged wife Edna decides to live with him for the summer in the hope that they can perhaps resume their relationship.

Please answer the following questions with a brief paragraph each, rather than just a sentence, with details from the story to illustrate your point. In one of your answers, use a direct quote from the story to illustrate your point. When we quote from sources where the author is already known, we give only the page number in the parentheses, remember.

2A. Wes is an alcoholic who is currently sober. But at the end of the story, Edna does not seem to foresee a happy ending. In fact, the story ends on a sad note. What clue or clues does the story give that indicate he might return to drinking?

2B. Since Wes is an alcoholic, this story is, on one level, about addiction. What does this story show us about addiction? What details from the story make you say this?