A Good Man Is Hard To Find Chapter 1 Summary
In the article, "The Role of Good Reading" Gardner cites the importance of cultural context. What is the cultural context of these two stories? Consider the time period and the region where the stories take place. Why is it important for us, as readers, to look at the stories through the lens of cultural context? Explain your answer with examples.
I believe that the cultural context of the story “Interpreter of Maladies” is India -American. Though the story took place in India with an Indian tour-guide, Mr. and Mrs. Das were both born and raised in America and considered themselves Americans. I also believe that in the story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” the cultural context takes place in the south of American between the 70’s and 80’s. …show more content…
Cultural context is so important to think about and pay attention to because it can often times give you clues as to why certain things are happening or being done. Every culture has different norms and often times those norms can affect a characters behaviors, opportunities, or actions.
2. What do we know about the main characters each of these stories? How do the authors "show" us these characters? Cite 2-3 examples of how the author develops the main characters. Can you sympathize with these characters? Why or why not? Explain your answer.
In the story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” the main character is the grandmother who lives with her son, his wife, and their three children.
The author started to “show” us the grandmother when they said “The grandmother didn’t want to go to Florida. She wanted to visit come some of her connections in Tennessee and she was seizing evert chance to change Bailey’s mind.” To me this shows that the grandmother is not afraid to share her opinions with the family, which also shows how comfortable she is with them. Another part of the story that I feel showed who the grandmother was, was when it said, “She didn’t intend for the cat to be left alone in the house for three days because he would miss her too much and she was afraid he might push against one of the gas burners and accidentally ignite himself”. I feel like this showed us another part of the grandmother because it showed us that she loved this cat so much that made he anxious when thinking about leaving him behind. In the Story “Interpreter of Maladies” the main characters was Mrs Das. The author first showed us Mr. and Mrs. Das when it said “The family looked Indian but dressed as foreigners did, the children in stiff, brightly colored clothing and caps with translucent visors.” This gave me a good visual as to what type of clothing the family wore. We also get to see the relationship between no Mrs. Das and her children when the story said “ The little girl stuck out her hand. ‘Mine too. Mommy, do mine too.’ ‘Leave me
alone,’ Mrs. Das said, blowing on her nail and turning her body slightly.” You can tell from that quote that clearly Mrs. Das is annoyed with her children and doesn’t really want to be spending time with them.
3. What elements of setting did you notice in these two stories? (For example: place, time, weather etc). What kind of atmosphere or mood does the setting create in each story? Why is this important? The setting for “Interpreter of Maladies” took place on a family vacation to Indian. I think the story took place between the 80’s and 90s because it talks about the two boys having braces which didn’t become common until the 70s. It also talks about Mr and Mrs. Das going to college together, and it wasn’t very common for women to go to college until the 80’s. The setting for the story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” took place on a road trip from Atlanta to Florida. I’m not 100% sure about the time period but if I had to throughout a guess I would say the 70’s or 80’s.
4. Finally, what overall themes did you understand from each story? What can we learn from these pieces of literature?
From the story “Interpreter of Maladies” I understood the theme to be, that things are not always as they seem. Mrs. Das seemed like a mother who could care less about her kids and family, when really that wasn’t it. She didn’t dislike her kids, it was that she was so consumed with guilt about what she had done that she struggled to be happy when with her family. I think the theme for “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is about good vs. evil. The grandmother was trying to do good and was trying to convince people along the way to do good as well. The Misfit believed he was “bad” and that he could never be good, and was determined to prove that to the grandmother.
I believe that the cultural context of the story “Interpreter of Maladies” is India -American. Though the story took place in India with an Indian tour-guide, Mr. and Mrs. Das were both born and raised in America and considered themselves Americans. I also believe that in the story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” the cultural context takes place in the south of American between the 70’s and 80’s. …show more content…
Cultural context is so important to think about and pay attention to because it can often times give you clues as to why certain things are happening or being done. Every culture has different norms and often times those norms can affect a characters behaviors, opportunities, or actions.
2. What do we know about the main characters each of these stories? How do the authors "show" us these characters? Cite 2-3 examples of how the author develops the main characters. Can you sympathize with these characters? Why or why not? Explain your answer.
In the story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” the main character is the grandmother who lives with her son, his wife, and their three children.
The author started to “show” us the grandmother when they said “The grandmother didn’t want to go to Florida. She wanted to visit come some of her connections in Tennessee and she was seizing evert chance to change Bailey’s mind.” To me this shows that the grandmother is not afraid to share her opinions with the family, which also shows how comfortable she is with them. Another part of the story that I feel showed who the grandmother was, was when it said, “She didn’t intend for the cat to be left alone in the house for three days because he would miss her too much and she was afraid he might push against one of the gas burners and accidentally ignite himself”. I feel like this showed us another part of the grandmother because it showed us that she loved this cat so much that made he anxious when thinking about leaving him behind. In the Story “Interpreter of Maladies” the main characters was Mrs Das. The author first showed us Mr. and Mrs. Das when it said “The family looked Indian but dressed as foreigners did, the children in stiff, brightly colored clothing and caps with translucent visors.” This gave me a good visual as to what type of clothing the family wore. We also get to see the relationship between no Mrs. Das and her children when the story said “ The little girl stuck out her hand. ‘Mine too. Mommy, do mine too.’ ‘Leave me
alone,’ Mrs. Das said, blowing on her nail and turning her body slightly.” You can tell from that quote that clearly Mrs. Das is annoyed with her children and doesn’t really want to be spending time with them.
3. What elements of setting did you notice in these two stories? (For example: place, time, weather etc). What kind of atmosphere or mood does the setting create in each story? Why is this important? The setting for “Interpreter of Maladies” took place on a family vacation to Indian. I think the story took place between the 80’s and 90s because it talks about the two boys having braces which didn’t become common until the 70s. It also talks about Mr and Mrs. Das going to college together, and it wasn’t very common for women to go to college until the 80’s. The setting for the story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” took place on a road trip from Atlanta to Florida. I’m not 100% sure about the time period but if I had to throughout a guess I would say the 70’s or 80’s.
4. Finally, what overall themes did you understand from each story? What can we learn from these pieces of literature?
From the story “Interpreter of Maladies” I understood the theme to be, that things are not always as they seem. Mrs. Das seemed like a mother who could care less about her kids and family, when really that wasn’t it. She didn’t dislike her kids, it was that she was so consumed with guilt about what she had done that she struggled to be happy when with her family. I think the theme for “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is about good vs. evil. The grandmother was trying to do good and was trying to convince people along the way to do good as well. The Misfit believed he was “bad” and that he could never be good, and was determined to prove that to the grandmother.