Bring on the tough stuff - there’s not just one right answer.
- Late in the story Munro writes, "The same thing was waiting, no matter what, and all the time. Drinking, needing to drink—that was just some sort of distraction, like everything else" (291). What is that thing that's waiting? Why doesNeal drink to distract himself from it?
- What do you think happened to Grace? We know she's still alive since the story is retrospective, but what do you think her life has been like? Did she ever fall in love? Is she married? Does she have a family? Does she collect PEZ dispensers? Did she lose all of her passion behind the washtubs?
- How would you define passion? Is it something we lose as we get older? Is there a difference between passion and love?
- What is your definition of useful knowledge? How about useless knowledge? How are these ideas typically defined in our culture? Does learning have to do with life?
- What does it mean to know someone?
- Was Neil's death an accident?