"The White Quail"

 

 

Critical Sources:

Hayashi, Tetsumaro, ed. A Study Guide to Steinbeck's The Long Valley. Ann Arbor, MI: Pierian, 1976.

Hughes, R. S. Beyond the Red Pony: A Reader’s Companion to Steinbeck’s Complete Short Stories. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow, 1987.

Simpson, Arthur L., Jr. "'The White Quail': A Portrait of an Artist." Hayashi 11-16.

Timmerman, John H. The Dramatic Landscape of Steinbeck’s Short Stories. Norman, OK: U of Oklahoma P, 1990.

Discussion starters:

  • How does Mary's concern for her garden affect her marriage?
  • What is so important about Mary's question to Harry, "We won't ever change it, will we, Harry?" (16)?
  • Simpson calls Mary a "pathetically hypersensitive, isolated, paranoid, hysterical creature" because of "the progressive objectification of herself as something less than human" (13). In what ways does she fail to be fully human?
  • How are communication, sexuality and aesthetics all wrapped together in Mary's sensibilities?
  • Hughes says "the themes of loneliness and fear of change are particularly central" to this story. Do you agree?

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