1. The Kubler-Ross model specifies five stages of grief people go through when dealing with death: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’s book, On Death and Dying, is available electronically through the library website. From the plays or the novel, compare and contrast either 1) How two characters from different works go through all five steps, or 2) How three characters from three different works experience a single step. Please be sure to cite Kubler-Ross’s book in support of your arguments. For example, if you are exploring Anger, with whom are the characters angry? God? Themselves? Family? Does one character lash out in anger at others while the other bottles it up? What does the way in which the characters respond say about the characters’ themselves? Does the way in which they respond to death contradict the image they tried to build of themselves during life?
2. In “The Madwoman in the Attic,” Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar argue that
. . . the despair of the monster-woman is also real, undeniable, and infectious. The Queen’s [from Snow White] tarantella is plainly unhealthy and the result of too much storytelling. As the Romantic poets feared, too much imagination may be dangerous to anyone, male or female, but for women in particular patriarchal culture has always assumed mental exercises would have dire consequences.
We have several examples in our readings for this unit of women struggling to assume “thinking” roles in patriarchal societies. Overtly or subtly, many of them struggle to take on roles typically considered masculine, and their struggle is not just with society, but with their own doubts as to whether they can or should assume these roles. Examine both the internal and external struggles of one of these women. What social obstacles does she face in attempting to form her desired identity as a “thinking” being? What about the internal barriers she has constructed? Which do you feel are more difficult for her to overcome? Why is that? What strategies does she employ to overcome those barriers? Which are more effective? Why? Does she overcome them? Does she want recognition as a thinker, or is she content to be one without being identified as such? Are men her greatest opposition, or do other women stand in her path?
3. We discussed many of the characteristics of plays in this unit. Imagine The Left Hand of Darkness as a play. How could it be staged? How could the actors portray the characters? How could the various gender transitions be managed? What kind of theater would this be best in? Who would you cast in the various roles? Why? Put yourself in the role of producer/director of this play and try to address as many of the relevant issues for staging a play as possible.
