Mama, a Dismembered
Corpse Behind You.
Corpse Behind You.
What does the narrator explicitly state that he will do to convince us he is reliable?
Tell the story calmly and slowly
Who is the narrator in A Rose for Emily? What makes them unreliable?
A townsperson/the townspeople
They are sharing mainly gossip and secondhand information!
The story explicitly states that Peyton Farquhar is being executed by this group.
The Union
The darkness Granny feels at the end implicitly symbolizes this.
Death
Jim Smiley is described as someone who loves this activity.
gambling
What can be inferred about the narrator's mental state based on his increasingly erratic behavior throughout "The Tell-Tale Heart"?
He is unstable or crazy
What can be inferred or implied about Emily's mental state based on her isolation and secretive behavior in "A Rose for Emily"?
-She is not stable, she is isolatory, she fears change, she has been controlled her whole life, etc.
The intense details of Farquhar’s escape, such as seeing insects on leaves and feeling the water’s currents, are unreliable because of this.
They are heightened senses, or hallucinations
The story’s narrative style, which moves between past and present in Granny’s thoughts, is called this.
Stream of Consciousness
Wheeler never explicitly says it, but implicitly, we can infer that the stranger who beat Smiley did this to Dan’l Webster.
Filled his mouth with quail shot, or pebbles
What emotions does the narrator likely feel towards the old man, despite claiming he loves him in "The Tell-Tale Heart"?
Paranoid, fear, hatred, etc.
What does the explicit information about Emily's relationship with her father suggest about her character and her actions in "A Rose for Emily"?
-She doesn't socialize a lot.
-She may struggle forming relationships, but also fears letting the ones she has go.
What might the depiction of time and perception in the story suggest about the nature of reality and illusion in "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"?
The line between reality and illusion is very thin.
Other answers may vary!
Granny’s memories blend with her present thoughts, making her narration unreliable due to this reason.
Her senses are off due to her weakness and sickness, she also doesn't realize she is dying and keeps insisting that she has tomorrow.
The narrator describes his conversation with Wheeler as an interminable narrative. The denotation means it’s long, but the connotation suggests this feeling.
Neverending, uninteresting
Give an implicit piece of evidence from the story that proves that our narrator probably is unreliable.
-He says he loves the old man, but kills him.
-Stutters through, repeats himself.
-Any other answers will vary
What explicit evidence was there to suggest that the body in the room was in fact Homer's?
The gifts she bought for him, the toilet seat with his initials, etc.
Bierce never explicitly tells us that Farquhar is dead until the very end, making the reader experience this kind of irony.
What explicit evidence shows us that Granny's current physical state is not great?
Answers may vary
The narrator describes Wheeler’s storytelling as “monotonous.” The denotation means he speaks in a flat, unchanging tone, but the connotation suggests this.
Dull, boring, not exciting, etc.
The beating heart at the end of the story is likely not real but is instead an implicit sign of this.
His guilt and instability
What are some themes we learn implicitly in A Rose for Emily that we are only able to learn because we hear the story from a towns person's perspective?
-Anything about society, class, etc.
What are some of the explicit clues throughout the story that proves that the reality Peyton Farquhar is experiencing is not true?
Heightened senses, not feeling his feet, pain in his neck, nobody on the path, etc.
What does The Jilting of Granny Weatherall suggest about life and death implicitly through Granny's experience?
Answers will vary
Wheeler says Smiley would bet on anything that turned up, which denotatively means he bet on many things. The connotation implies this about Smiley’s character.
He was too eager to gambling, or had a gambling addiction