1.) This week, we started our first novel of the course. How has the experience of reading a novel been different from the experience of reading non-fiction? How have your approaches to reading (including time management, managing distractions, active reading strategies, etc.) changed in response to this shift in the genre?
2.) Based on your reading of the novel, write a paraphrase and at least one hypothesis that explains what the novel is about on the plot level (paraphrase) and thematically (hypothesis). How did you arrive at this understanding of the novel?
3.) Of the narrative elements introduced in class, which are most salient to your understanding of how the narrative moves forward and why?
4.) Each of the texts we have read so far incorporates history to greater or lesser degrees. How does the depiction of Mexico in The Shadow compare or contrast to other depictions we have seen in Borderlands or Days of Obligation? How does setting the novel in Mexico allow it to make a commentary (see your hypothesis) that it might not be able to make if it were set in the U.S.? Is that commentary still applicable to the U.S. given your understanding of the Mexican American historical touchstones we’ve discussed in class?
5.) Would you recommend Américo Paredes’ The Shadow to others? Why or why not? What criteria are most important in your evaluation?
