Questions

1. What does the beaded dress symbolize in "The Fun House"?

2. What do the struggles and triumphs of the Aunt demonstrate about women’s roles?

3. Why does the mother in "A Good Story" ask her son to tell “a good story"?

4. What kid of mood is created by the images that close "A Good Story," and how does this atmosphere contribute to the overall meaning?

5. What does the baby symbolize at the end of "The First Annual All-Indian Horseshoe Pitch and Barbecue," and how is that meaning significant?

Answers

1. The dress symbolizes strength. It is too heavy for anyone to wear, that is, except the strongest of women.

2. The Aunt’s struggles demonstrate that women’s contributions to family and social life are often unrecognized and unappreciated. Her triumph in the story, the ability to wear the beaded dress, suggests that this fact must change.

3. The mother requests a “good” story because so many stories told about Reservation life are “bad”; they often emphasize only the worst, not the best, experiences in the lives of Native Americans.

4. The final images, of the mother sewing and the narrator drinking Pepsi, are devoid of negative emotion; they create a sense of peace. These images suggest that contentment might be found in everyday activities and experiences.

5. The mixed-race baby is called “beautiful”; recognition of its beauty suggests that white and Native American cultures might merge more easily and successfully if Reservation life could foster the kind of camaraderie experienced on this day more often.