“The
Witch’s Husband” (short story)“The
Witch’s Husband” (short story)
1. Who is telling the story? What is her relationship to the story?
2. What is the narrator’s mission in Puerto Rico? What does the family want her to do?
3. What kind of person does the narrator think her “Abuela” is at the beginning of the story? What is the one mystery about Abuela?
4. What is the connection between the story Abuela tells the narrator about the “witch’s husband” and her own life?
5. When the grandmother tells the story about her year in New York, does the narrator’s view of her “abuela” change? Does her view of her mission change? Why?
6. What do you take from this story? Do you feel that the grandparents’ relationship is an exceptional one? Is their bond defined by culture or personal considerations (or both)?
“Nada” (short story)
1. Who is the narrator? Explain the situation.
2. How does Dona Ernestina react? Do you agree with the narrator that “something has cracked inside of her”? Or with Lydia’s interpretation of her behavior? (“Did you see her dressed up like an actress in a play and not one tear for her son?”)
3. Why does Dona Ernestina reject the President’s offer of a full military funeral?
4. How did Dona Ernestina react to her husband’s death the year before?
5. What is the “island dream” that many Puerto Ricans have? How was this destroyed for Dona Ernestina?
6. How does the community prepare for the wake? How is the wake conducted by Dona Ernestina? What does she do at the end that is certainly not usual?
7. How does the community of neighbors react? What does Tito, the Building Superintendent, suggest? What is the narrator’s view of men? Is she bitter because of her own experience or is she being objective? What do the neighbors decide to do?
8. Does the idea that this is a women’s matter exist in both Puerto Rican and American societies?
9. What happens over the next few days? Should the community have done more?
10.
Were they irresponsible and
ignorant to fail to take action or were they simply respecting Dona Ernestina’s
right to deal with grief in her own way?
11. What would you have done if you had been “one of the neighbors”?
“The
Story of My Body” (personal essay)
1. The narrator undergoes major changes in her self-concept as a result of events and cultural changes. As a little girl in Puerto Rico, she sees herself as “white,” “tall” and “pretty.” How does this change and why?
2. How does the narrator react when she encounters color prejudice in the United States? Do you think she is damaged by th encounter? Why or why not?
3. What is the narrator’s status in the important world of sports for inner city “kids”? What is her self-concept of herself as an athlete? Who are her idols and what are her fantasies? How is she saved from torment in physical education?
4. Is beauty simply a matter of fad or fashion? What originally gives the narrator a self-concept that she is “pretty”? What is the hierarchy of “pretty” in New Jersey’s Public School 11 and how does she define herself within it?
5. How does the narrator compensate for not being popular with boys? How does the narrator cope with the violence in the NJ public school system?
6. How does she deal with prejudice in Georgia in the “romance” with Ted?
7. Was the narrator scarred by her encounters with prejudice and violence—if you feel she emerged relatively unscathed, why?
8. Describe your own view of your skin, body and your overall appearance (“attractive” or “not attractive.” Do you recall incidents that shaped your view? Did the view change and, if so, why?
“Advanced Biology” (personal essay)
With today’s argument over teaching “Intelligent Design” (that God is responsible for creation and that man, for example, was created basically “as is” rather than evolving from apes” ) vs. evolution very much alive, this essay is extremely relevant today.
1. Cofer begins by reflecting on her Puerto Rican mother’s clothing styles and religious practices as she packs for a trip to visit her mother. What are the difference in mother and daughter’s practices as they struggle to reconcile Puerto Rican and “American” culture?
2. Cofer contrasts Jewish culture with Puerto Rican culture. Why does her father prefer doing business with Jewish men? How does Cofer learn about the Holocaust?
3. Discuss the clash Cofer and her mother have over science (the “real world” ) and the religious doctrine of the Virgin Birth. What is Ira’s religious position and how does he convince Judith there is no virgin birth? What happens when Ira gives Judith his Beta Club pin and Mrs. Milstein sees them kissing in the hallway?
4. How does Judith’s mother react to the news that she was kissing Ira? How does Ira’s mother, Mrs. Nathan, react?
5. What is the harshest thing that Judith can think of to say to her mother? What do you think of the mother’s reason for insisting she and Ira not associate? Would that still happen today? Is there any change in the way we deal with differences in culture and belief?
6. How does the author distance the reader from the episode and make it humorous?
7. At the end of the essay, does the author suggest that there is any way to resolve cultural and religious differences? How does she handle it?
8. Have you had to deal with situations where there has been a clash of your beliefs or cultural practices? How have you dealt with them? Discuss.
POEMS
The Latin Deli contains many poems which give us portraits of Puerto Rican people and the Puerto Ricans culture in America. Many deal with the difficulties of coping with culture clash upon coming to America—the differences in beliefs and practices and for some, the loneliness for a way of life and people left behind. Most are free verse, contain strong imagery, a feeling for language, and evocation of place..
“The
Latin Deli: An Ars Poetica” 1. Discuss the reality of the shop keeper, “the Patroness of Exiles.” How does she maintain her culture in America? Why do people come to her Deli despite the high prices?
2. Look at the images Cofer uses to create the world of the poem—which ones do you find especially vivid and why?
“Orar: To Pray: between the couple in the poem?
1. Do the couple embody the stereotypes of Latin men and women?
2. What effect does the relationship is have on the child listening?
3. How is the title effective?
“Dividir: To Divide”1. This poem deals with an infidelity. How does the woman react? The man?
2. How do you feel about her failure to forgive him while he lives?
3. Is the title effective?
“Volar: To Fly”1. Who is the persona (speaker) is this poem? To whom is she speaking?
2. What does she imagine herself as after she dies?
3. Does she connect with the reader in this poem? (Can you translate the Spanish epitaph? How is the title effective?)
“An
Early Mystery”1. Who is speaking? (Who is the persona?)
2. How does Cofer create a vivid setting through use of details?
3. Who is the woman and why is her scent familiar?
4. How does the mother react? Does the child understand the encounter?
5. Does the author divide the stanzas effectively to enhance meaning?
“Guard Duty”1. What is the child’s view of her Guardian Angel? Where does she get the idea?
2. Does she find the Angel comforting?
3. Did you ever have a view of a protective being? Was your view different from the child’s?
“The
Purpose of Nuns”1. What is Cofer’s childhood view of nuns? What is their role in her life?
2. Were the girls encouraged to be nuns? How? Is there an appeal to this lifestyle?
3. In the last stanza, how does the speaker respond to the idea of being a nun?
“The
Game”1. How does her family respond to the “little humpbacked girl”? What is her name and why?
2. How does the persona and her family respond? What is the only sign that the persona’s mother is aware of the child’s handicap?
3. How do people respond to such handicaps today? Has there been any change?
“To
Grandfather, Now Forgetting”1. What does the fifteen-year old persona (speaker) tell us about her grandfather’s life?
2. What about his love? How is she described in sensual imagery?
3. What does the persona want to do for her Grandfather?
4. Do you think that she can make him happy by taking him back into his memories? Will he think she is his lost love?
“Juana: An Old Story”1. What is the “old story” referred to in the title?
2. Where is Carlos?
3. What images powerfully show how much she misses him?
4. How do we get the sense of place—where Juana is and where Carlos is?
5. Do you get a sense that he will return?
“Olga”1. Where is Olga?
2. What is her life like? Is there a contrast between what her life might have been in Puerto Rico and what it is in America? Is she better off?
Looking at the group of poems, define the themes that reoccur.