Tennessee Williams: A Streetcar Named Desire
What is the significance of the title of A Streetcar Named Desire? How does the title resonate with other mentions of desire throughout the play?
Jhumpa Lahiri: “Interpreter of Maladies
“Interpreter of Maladies” provides an intriguing take on tourists because the Dases are Indian American tourists in India. Similarly, the guidebook Raj reads looks to Mr. Kapasi “as if it had been published abroad,” while the Indian movie magazine Mina reads is “written in English.” Consider this blend of foreign and native culture, of being a tourist in what might be called your native land, in relation to the story’s title.
Richard Blanco: “My Father in English”
What effect does Blanco’s mix of English and Spanish have on the overall meaning of his poem?
Judith Ortiz Cofer: “The Latin Deli: An Ars Poetica”
Is it important that the shop in Cofer’s poem is a deli? Would the sense of the poem change if the shop sold something other than food? What is the “hunger” of the old man in line 31?
