Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Discussion questions
1. How is Pauline’s father becoming like the regime he ran away from?
Pauline’s relationship with her father is marred by fear. His constant anger and
his use of humiliation and violence to control the children means they live in
constant fear. She bitterly relates how “fear and the dog shit covering my yard
Pauline writes “I ran away from home as soon as I was old enough.” This
suggests that life was so poisoned by fear, that she started planning to escape
when she was very young and was quite determined. Without joy in her home,
and no hope of change in her father’s abuse – leaving is just assumed as
obvious “as soon as I was old enough.” It is expressed logically, and without
need of elaboration or justification, or any kind of deep inner conflict.
4. How does she feel about leaving her brothers behind?
The only tinge of regret she shows about leaving home is for her brothers, she
writes how she regrets ‘leaving them to face the consequences and pick up the
pieces.’ However, there is not much sense that she ever intended on staying.
She shows clear and almost detached commitment to her escape.
She describes how her mother becomes “emaciated, letting grief eat away at
her.” It seems her mother is almost mourning the loss of a loved one. She
becomes a vegan, abstaining from meat and seeking forgiveness and strength
from Buddha.
She describes how both parents are “emptied of all hope”, and “finally
surrendered to their own sorrow.” They appear to change, and try to repair their
relationships with their sons after closing down the family restaurant, but there
is a sense that it is a household pervaded by despair and sadness. They are still
cut off from mainstream society, “a monastic existence”.
Use the board notes to develop your own answers to each question. Please write detailed
responses, at least a paragraph in length (when possible). Remember - this is reading
and writing in preparation for a full essay, so you want to write something that will be
useful to you in doing that.
When you are finished the questions - write a paragraph using one of the above topics as a
start.