There is a lot of humour in Elliott’s tale, and much of it depends on the element of surprise. But not all people find this kind of humour effective. Share your feelings about the humour in this story with one other person, focusing first on the sections you found most amusing and then on those you did not find amusing.
The forest, with its “black heart,†is a pervasive image in this piece. Working with one other student, collect all the information you can about this forest and the characters’ relationship to it. Examine your collected materials and speculate on the significance of this image. Compare your ideas with those of other groups in a whole-class discussion.
Analyze Caresse’s long speech to her guests beginning, “O, we are so lucky†down to and including “I had a silly afternoon in the forest today (p. 115). Focusing on tone, diction, and sentence structure, write a critique of this passage. What do these elements suggest about Caresse’s state of mind?