1. The school teacher: a. Describe from what intellectual position the school teacher approaches the ancient ruins and in which terms he explains them to his students.
b. Describe how Mr. Palomar sees the teacher. What does he think of him and his methods? What is his attitude towards him; does it change throughout the narrative?
c. What is the teacher’s and the school children’s ethnic background? How does the narrator describe their physical appearance? What kind of connection may there be between the teacher’s ethnic background and his resistance to the intellectual position of Mr. Palomar’s friend?

2. Mr. Palomar: Describe Mr. Palomar’s experience in the ruins:
a. How does the narrator describe the site?
b. From what intellectual position does Mr. Palomar’s friend approach the ruins?
c. What is Mr. Palomar’s view of the teacher’s and his friend’s different approaches?

3. The question of “translation” and “interpretation”: a. Describe the object which the characters in the text are looking at and thinking and talking about.
b. “We are in the world of pictographic writing.” How do we “read” this world? Describe the different ways, the act or process of “reading” the ruins, as suggested in Calvino’s text.
c. “Translation” and “interpretation”—what do these concepts mean to Mr. Palomar?

1. Candide as a “Bildungsroman” (educational novel), or a  “picaresque novel”; and philosophies of life:
a. We watch Candide grow up and go through a large number and wide variety of experiences. How does his attitude towards life change? At what point does it change? What was his initial attitude, what is it at the end? Would you call the novel a “Bildungsroman” or a “picaresque novel,” or both, or neither? Why?
b. We (and Candide) encounter four philosophies of life, represented in four figures. Who are they and what are their philosophies? (two are lesser characters).
c. How does Candide react to these philosophies? Does he eventually develop his own? What is your—the reader’s—reaction to these philosophies and to Candide’s position toward them?

2. The motif of the voyage in Candide:
a. After having been kicked out at first, what motivates Candide on his journey? What keeps him going? What is he looking for, in real as well as spiritual terms?
b. Look at the transition from the real to the possibly only imaginary world on p. 345. How is it described? Also the return from Eldorado, p. 349.
c. There are two journeys happening: a geographical one and a philosophical one: when are they parallel, when are they separate? Do they come together?
d. The characters encounter many cultural differences, but also find universal human traits and practices represented in unknown parts of the world. What are some examples of both?

3. The topic of utopia: Despite all the war and violence, the novel introduces three kinds of utopian settings, at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end:
a. Westphalia, “the most beautiful and agreeable of all castles”: how could it be a metaphor (image) for the Garden of Eden and man’s (Adam’s/Candide’s) fall from paradise?
b. Eldorado (p. 344-349): Isn’t this the dream of dreams, the perfect land? Why is it so perfect, describe some details. Does it exist or is it just imagined? Why do Candide and Cacambo want to leave if it is so perfect?
c. Candide’s own garden in Turkey: What are Candide’s new values now that he has matured? What is happiness to him now? How does his garden differ from the others? Is this going to work, or is it another threatened paradise?

1. How does he describe Paris and why is he so disappointed? (p. 435)
2. How does he describe his experience in nature? (p. 435/36)
3. How does he describe his feelings of romantic love? (p. 436, Book V)

1. The wager (Study I and II, Auerbach’s Keller, Witch’s Kitchen, 461–494): What is Faust’s problem as he translates the Bible? How is Mephistopheles introduced? What are his powers, what can he offer; and what are his limitations? What are the conditions of their pact? What does the scene with Mephistopheles teaching the student do? What is the function of the scene in Auerbach’s Keller? What are the main issues in the Witch’s Kitchen scene?

2. Love (Street, …, A Garden Bower, 493-507): Why is Faust attracted to Margarete? What kind of woman is she? How does she react to Faust, at first and later on? How does Mephistopheles manipulate her? What is the role of Martha? Also pay attention to how Faust addresses Gretchen: what are the words he uses?

3. Guilt (Wood and Cave, …, Cathedral, 507-521): What are Faust’s thoughts? How does Gretchen express her feelings, alone and toward Faust? What is her worry with him and how does he answer to it? What do the scenes at the well and the city wall convey? What happens in the Night scene? What do we witness in the Cathedral scene?

1. The Little Black Boy: What are the associations for “black” and “white” in the first stanza, and what do those associations represent? What does Christian doctrine teach the little boy? What is the little boy’s dream? Will this work, should we read the poem in good faith; or may there be some irony and social criticism of a contemporary problem?

2. Holy Thursday and London: What does Blake describe here and which metaphors does he use? Is this poem sentimental or ironic, i.e. critical of charity? / Which social injustices and problems of his time does Blake describe in his poem about the city? Which metaphors does he use to get his message across?

3. The Chimney Sweeper p. 544 and 548: Which social problem do the two poems address? How does the first poem describe the boys’ problem and what is their “solution”? Which aspect of the practice does the second poem address? How may the two poems reflect the stages of innocence and experience?

1. Character and Characterization: Emma: a. Write a short character portrait of Emma: What physical features does the narrator stress? How is she perceived by others? What are her aspirations in life and where do they come from? How does she pursue them; how does she deal with setbacks? From what does Emma really suffer?
b. What methods of characterization does Flaubert use? What does he “tell” us about her (find concrete text examples); and how does he “show” us certain aspects of her character by describing things she does, thinks, etc. (find some good example scenes and explain what they show about her).

2. Family Relationships and Love Relationships: a. Emma and Charles: What is the family like that each comes from? How does their family background and upbringing impact their marital relationship (think of mothers, fathers). How do they function in their own nuclear family, as mother and father themselves?
b. The men in Emma’s life: What type of man is each one? What is Emma looking for in each one? How does their relationship progress and what is the eventual outcome? Why?
c. How does Flaubert portray romantic love? Which aspects of it does he show, and in which ways (give examples for the language he uses in scenes or narrative parts about love)?
d. Study the scene at the agricultural show (928-41: what does Flaubert accomplish by intertwining the lovers’ dialogue with the speeches from the fair?)

3. The social world and social types: a. Write mini-portraits of the following characters: the husband-physician (Charles), the pharmacist (Homais), the pharmacist’s assistant (Justin), the  law clerk (León), the priest (Bournisien), the landowner (Rodolphe), the shopkeeper (Monsieur Lheureux).
b. What is each one’s philosophy of life and scale of values (look at their ideals, their feelings, their actions, how they treat others and why).
c. What is the function of each in the narrative: what does the character contribute to both, Flaubert’s image of society in mid-19th century France, and the advancement of the plot in certain directions?

1. The character Gustav Aschenbach: What kind of a man is he? What does he look like? What qualities does he have? What is his profession? How has he lived most of his life? What is his position in society? What metaphor is used to characterize his life? (Chapter 2) How does he change in the course of the narrative and why? What are the many signs of this change, inward and outward? What dooms him: his own desire, coming from within; or the disease, coming from outside?

2. Traveling, the figure of the traveler: What makes Aschenbach go on the trip? What does the traveler in Chapter 1 inspire in Aschenbach? (1514-17) Why is he so unhappy with his first stop? Describe the boat ride to Venice and the characters he encounters on it! What about the gondolier (what kind of a figure is he, how is he used for foreshadowing?) How does Aschenbach like his next hotel at the Lido and its guests? What kinds of people vacation here? (1522-29) Why does Aschenbach want to leave again shortly after arriving and why does he end up staying after all (1536-39)? What do the trips into the city, Venice, mean to him, how does the city affect him?

3. Love, eros, the object of desire, beauty, art: What is Aschenbach’s first impression of Tadzio (p. 1530 …)? What does he compare him to? Find examples of some of the language he uses to describe Tadzio. Is Tadzio perfect? What becomes Aschenbach’s model for his love for him (p. 1543) and how does he, at first, transform his love (p. 1544)? Why and how does Tadzio respond? What does Aschenbach’s terrifying Dionysian dream (p. 1558-60) signify and what follows it (p. 1560-61)? Describe how Aschenbach, in his last Phaedrus-talk, develops his concept of beauty and the artist’s (poet’s) relationship to it (p. 1562-63). Where does this reasoning lead him?

1. The motif of space, spatial configurations: Gregor's room, his movements, his "freedom," changes in his room and the other rooms, the window, etc: what is the meaning, how does it relate to the larger issues of  freedom and confinement?
2. The motif of food: discuss what it signifies; the apple motif: in which other story is an apple used?
3. The picture of the lady in the fur on the wall; the music, the sister's violin playing: what do these motifs convey to the reader?