Bring on the tough stuff - there’s not just one right answer.
- Why is it significant that we first meet Missie May she is bathing herself in a tub? Why might Hurston open with this particularly enticing scene?
- What do you think about the game Missie May and Joe play? Is it cute? Childish? Sensual? Explain your reason(s).
- How does the dialect add to the story? What is uniquely southern, if anything, about the language?
- Is it important that Missie May and Joe are a working class couple? Why or why not?
- What difference is made between northerners and southerners?
- Do you think Missie May is a bad woman? A bad wife?
- Why do you think Hurston chooses to write in black vernacular? Do you think it adds to or takes away from the story?
- How would this story be different if Joe had been the one cheating?
- Why do you think Missie May has an affair with Otis?
- How might the story have ended if the baby turned out to be Otis's and not Joe's?
- Why does Hurston focus on the small details of the house (for example, the flowers planted in front)? What do the details add to the story?