Emotion This Story Has Three

Emotion This story has three principle settings, and in each one of them, Mary's personality or body seems imitative; that is, she is prone to imitation. Briefly describe the three settings and identify what or whom she imitates. At the beginning of the story, Mary refuses to defend a colleague at Brandon University because she fears exposing herself as a radical, and possibly losing her job -- she rationalizes that as a female academic, she must trod carefully.

In Oregon, her body becomes wet, rusted-out and moldy like the state she is living in. And in New York, she finds herself acting passively towards Louise at first, agreeing with her rather than truly speaking her own mind. The character of Louise might evoke thoughts of another Tobias Wolff character (maybe in his other short story "Hunters in the Snow"). Which one and how are they similar? Louise is arrogant and needy like Frank -- she constantly talks about herself.

She is very sensual (like Frank, who is having an extramarital affair) and has stormy relationships with the opposite sex, but is dismissive of other people's real feelings: "Don't get serious on me," she tells Mary. Louise, unlike the men of "Hunters in the Snow" is not physically violent and selfish. Instead, perhaps because of her gender, she is emotionally cruel and self-centered.

She does not do harm, but like Frank she does nothing to prevent harm from being done to others -- she does nothing to 'stanch' Mary's internal bleeding, just as Frank does nothing to staunch Kenny's real hemorrhaging. 3) What doesn't Mary like about the people at the New York college? Mary finds them brittle, false and superficial -- she realizes she is being interviewed to satisfy 'a rule,' nothing more and despises the formulaic and hypocritical nature of the process.

4) One might identify Mary's desire for __approval____ to be in conflict with her desire for __originality____? 5) The hearing aid is symbolic of Mary's inability to.. …to truly.