English for Humanities

Spring 2023
Roundtable Discussion – Questions

Roundtable I - Questions on “Mericans” by Sandra Cisneros

1. Where do you think the story takes place? What clues are provided by the text? Where is
the church the young narrator is speaking of? Are there any important cultural references
(historical, folkloric, linguistic) you need to know about in order to understand this story?
Do a little research and tell us at least about three of them that intrigued you.

2. Micaela: Comment on the tone of Micaela towards the religious attitudes she is
witnessing around her. What is the relationship between Micaela and her grandmother?
Please give evidence from the text. Comment on the relationship between Micaela and
her brothers. Please give evidence from the text. In what ways is the theme of alienation
important in this story? Comment on this theme in connection to the spaces that appear
in the story.

3. The grandmother: Whose perspective are we given about her? Why is she qualified as
“awful”? (Please notice that in the Spanish translation of this text, in which Cisneros
collaborated, she is described as “abuela enojona”) What is her worldview? What does
she think about her grandchildren? Give evidence from the text.

4. Comment on the conversation between the lady and Junior (Alfredo). What is the lady
assuming? What is the lady’s attitude towards the place she is visiting? Comment on the
role of stereotypes in the story. How does the question of language play an important
role in the story? Do you think the grandmother speaks English, too? How do you
interpret the sentence “we’re mericans”?

5. How do the women in the story (the grandmother, Micaela, Auntie Light-skin, Auntie
Cuca and the lady) relate to their ethnic community? What differences do you see in
them?

6. The story belongs to the first part of the collection Woman Hollering Creek and most of
its stories talk about coming of age in the Chicano community in the US. What details do
you see in the story about the children playing and their behaviour that you would relate
to this experience?

7. What differences do you see between the boys Alfredito and Enrique in relation to their
sister Micaela? How does Cisneros depict the world of children?

8. Comment on the children’s names Alfredito/Junior, Enrique /Keeks, Micaela/Michelle.

Why do they have two names?

Roundtable II – Questions on Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

1. Focus on the setting, structure and objective of Antony's political speech.

2. The speech can be analysed in terms of the three modes of persuasion:

2.1. Logos (rhetorical figures, examples);

2.2 Pathos (rhetorical figures, examples);

2.3 Ethos (rhetorical figures, examples).

3. How does Shakespeare use the events, themes and language present in act 3 scene 2 to
make Mark Antony's speech so effective?

4. Antony knows what his audience, the people of Rome, value in a leader. What are some
essential qualities a leader must have? If he was not aware of these qualities, he would not
be able to make a convincing argument. What are the central qualities of a man, in this case
a leader, Antony emphasizes in this speech? What is the role of memory in this speech?

Roundtable III – Questions on 1984 by George Orwell

Part I
1. Describe the Party: its levels, its slogans, its rules, what they are suppose to wear
or not wear, what they are supposed to think or not think, do or not do. Present
and discuss by means of evidence from the text.

2. Ministries: What are the four ministries? What is their function? Can you
explain the contradiction between the name and the function of each Ministry?
Reflect on how the functions of the Ministries give new meaning to the words “Peace, Love,
Truth, and Plenty”.

3. Describe Winston’s character and views as represented by his thoughts and

actions, in the first part of chapter I. What bothers him? Reflect on his private
space, his health, the movie he saw the night before, his work. Choose some
significant elements and talk about them.

4. In this first part of chapter I, Winston’s universe is represented as a “military

regime”, in a war state. Present and discuss evidence in the text that shows the
“military regime” state.

5. We can see that Winston lives in a very strictly controlled environment, where
absence of freedom and privacy seems to be the normality. Find evidence of this
in the text and argue about them, in terms of space, language, freedoom, buying
stuffs, names…

6. In this part of the chapter, Winston describes different “instruments” from

different eras. How does he describe each one of them? Focus on the adjectives
used to depict how these instruments are used and the purpose they serve (pen,
telescreen, ...).

7. In class discussion: the value and function of the diary and Winston’s relation to
it.
Part II
Goldstein, O’Brian and Big Brother

1. Describe both Emmanuel Goldstein and Big Brother. Discuss how the state
presents both figures and how Winston feels about each one of them.

2. Describe the social hierarchy in Winston’s world as represented by the

characters in the text (O’Brien, the girl, Big Brother, Winston himself, his
colleagues, …).

3. What does Winston think of O’Brien and what was the significance of the
“incident” that happens between them after the Hate? What was the thing that
Winston “KNEW” after the incident?

Thought Crime and Two Minutes Hate

4. Who is the nameless female character in the first chapter? Describe her: what
does she represent? And how does Winston feel about her?

5. Discuss the function of the Thought Police and explain what could be
considered as a Thought Crime. What does it mean to be VAPORIZED? Give
evidence from the text.

6. The Two Minutes Hate: How does it work? What is its purpose? When does it
take place? And how do the audience and the different characters react? Find
evidence in the text. You may want to discuss the effect of stereotyping the
enemy and its effect in manipulating the masses.

Roundtable IV – Questions on Frederick Douglass

1. What sort of audience does Douglass anticipate for his reminiscence? How much does he
assume his readers know about the conditions of slavery?

2. What books seem to matter most to Douglass? Why? What are his motives for wanting to
read and write?

3. For Douglass, what is the relationship between literacy and freedom? How does he move
from curiosity to anguish to "eternal wakefulness" in paragraph 6? What is the relationship
between learning to read and learning to write?

4. Find and examine samples of nineteenth-century advertisements designed to capture

runaway slaves. In what specific ways does the language of these advertisements reflect the
slave owner's attitude toward the slaves? How does this language correspond to Douglass's
description of his life as a slave? Support your answer with specific examples.

5. How does the excerpt from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass connect to the
importance of individual freedom, intellectual curiosity, and power relations? You can make
references to other texts seen in class so far.

6. How do Frederick Douglass's experiences as a slave connect to dehumanization and

collective resistance, among other related topics?

7. Douglass shows concern that slaves are not seen as people but rather as property. How
does the treatment of humans as objects relate to the ideas of gender, racial equality and
the struggle for freedom? You may also want to compare the situation of the people of colour
in the US in the mid-19th century and that of the 20th and 21st centuries up to now.
Remember that Douglass's narrative was published in 1845, during a time when slavery was
still legal in the USA.

Roundtable V – Questions on “The Waltz” by Dorothy Parker

1. What is the story about? When was it written?

2. Narrative Technique: From whose perspective is the story written? Why are there
some sentences written in italics? What is the effect this has on the reader?

3. Style. What literary figures does the female protagonist use? What does this reveal
about her personality? What is the basis of Parker’s satire?

4. Symbolism: What might the waltz symbolize?

5. How do you interpret the sentence “Trapped like a trap in a trap.”

Roundtable VI – Questions on Top Girls by Caryl Churchill

1. What kind of questions does Marlene ask Jeanine? See how their
perspective on work, ambition or marriage differ. Find evidence from the text.

2. How does Marlene see Jeanine? Does her attitude change over the
interview? What tone does Marlene use? What role does she play?

3. Comment on Marlene’s view of Jeanine’s academic results and also her

appearance. What is Jeanine’s response to that?

4. What two jobs is Jeanine offered? why? Do you think she’ll be satisfied?
Are Jeanine’s expectations fulfilled?

5. What’s the power dynamic at the end of the interview? What does Marlene want from
Jeanine?

6. Comment on the following quote: “I think you could make me believe it

if you put your mind to it”