Paul's Case

Okay, I just got home and totally forgot to post a prompt for this short story and I'm too tired to think of one . . . if you want to just place a comment about it, feel free . . . not a requirement, though.

Bobbi Ann Mason's “Shiloh”

Hmmmm, a Southern man!


The feminist literary critics have aided us in analyzing and understanding how female characters are written in literature, often demonizing male characters in the process. Consequently, we have given very little consideration to “how” men are written. In Bobbie Ann Mason’s work we are introduced to the marginalized male – men who once seemed to wield power but are now only remnants of their formerly glorious selves, usually at the expense of the downhome feminist. In “Shiloh,” how are Leroy’s attempts at adjusting to his “new” life – problems with his marriage and troubles with the urbanization of his neighborhood – evidence of a “weak” male?

I’m trying not to write a leading question, but . . . what becomes problematic for feminist/female writers if in order to empower female characters, they “must” write weak male characters? What are the consequences of this literary “movement”?

"Gimpel the Fool"

Consider what Singer himself says in an author's note: "I dreamed of a humanism and ethics the basis of which would be a refusal to justify all the evils the Almighty has sent us and is preparing to bestow upon us in the future."

Has Singer moved "beyond" this position in his story "Gimpel the Fool"? Or is the story best viewed as an expression of it? Explain.