1. The value of Naipaul’s work is________________________________
2. Comment on : A stranger could drive through Miguel Street and just say ‘slum’, because he could see no more. But we, who lived there, saw our street as a world, where everybody was quite different from everybody else.
3. Comment on your favorite vignette. Why?
4. What are the commonalities that characterize life on Miguel Street? (what seems to be universal on the street?) Are these “ universals” universal or idiosyncratic to his neighborhood?
5. Which seems more likely? and why? >Naipaul shows uses a child’s view of his world to remind us life’s simplicities. >Naipaul shows us that life in the islands may be more complicated than it appears.
6. Describe the narrator’s emotions that frame the stories? Does this eschew the stories?
7. What about your emotion: what are some of the emotive reactions that the reading causes?
8. For which character did you feel the greatest pathos (empathy, sympathy, compassion, etc)?
9. Comment on the effectiveness of the narrative strategy (1st person, unnamed narrator, perspective, etc).
10. Given the narrative structure, is there a single over-riding theme?
11. Miguel Street is a “them and us” novel. Agree?
12. Unlike [choose another work from our list], Miguel Street is a novel known for its ________________
13. As I read it, I couldn’t help but think of ______________________[choose another work from our list]. Does it have similarities with well-known works outside our class?
2. Comment on : A stranger could drive through Miguel Street and just say ‘slum’, because he could see no more. But we, who lived there, saw our street as a world, where everybody was quite different from everybody else.
3. Comment on your favorite vignette. Why?
4. What are the commonalities that characterize life on Miguel Street? (what seems to be universal on the street?) Are these “ universals” universal or idiosyncratic to his neighborhood?
5. Which seems more likely? and why?
>Naipaul shows uses a child’s view of his world to remind us life’s simplicities.
>Naipaul shows us that life in the islands may be more complicated than it appears.
6. Describe the narrator’s emotions that frame the stories? Does this eschew the stories?
7. What about your emotion: what are some of the emotive reactions that the reading causes?
8. For which character did you feel the greatest pathos (empathy, sympathy, compassion, etc)?
9. Comment on the effectiveness of the narrative strategy (1st person, unnamed narrator, perspective, etc).
10. Given the narrative structure, is there a single over-riding theme?
11. Miguel Street is a “them and us” novel. Agree?
12. Unlike [choose another work from our list], Miguel Street is a novel known for its ________________
13. As I read it, I couldn’t help but think of ______________________[choose another work from our list]. Does it have similarities with well-known works outside our class?