Week 10

Class Ground Rules

Read all the assignments before class.
Keep yourself on mute unless called on.
Raise your hands electronically.
Focus your comments only on the question at hand rather than straying to other parts of the story.
Refrain from offering a review of the whole story or jumping to the end.
Discuss the author's story, not your own story.
Try to support your comments by referring to details from the text.
Listen to and respond to others with respect.

"And then in Sparrow...going backwards and sort of piecing together what we know and against what we can never know and somehow making enough sense to go forward.” — Jill McCorkle

READ (at least twice): Jill McCorkle – “Sparrow" pp. 213-249.

A newly divorced woman adjusts to her life in a new community.

Think About:

The first person narration—why the author chose it and what she achieves with it.
The relevance of the opening story about the mother who asphyxiates herself and her infant son.
The narrator's shifting perspective—alternating present events with her thoughts about her own life.
The place of "Patrick's mother" in the story.
The tragedies—large and small—that are woven throughout the story.
What do you see as the major themes in the story?
Jill told us that she has included several characters in the last story who we have met before. Can you identify them?

MORE to Think About: Summing Up Jill McCorkle

Based on the 10 stories we've read and discussed:

What do you see as the strengths of Jill's writing?
What do you see as the weaknesses?
Which story or character did you enjoy the most?
Would you recommend Jill to others? If so, how would you describe her work?

Link to Week 10 class recording: https://brandeis.zoom.us/rec/play/oKpdwlH77qojDqjHkdpPKWTj62siOPxROObVMVFCAntydYSKtImnghQbQrh-cuT2ISXb0dqTGpYJhfN4.GFy0driNoWOnermo

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