The Short List

These readings are short enough to read "on the spot" and complex enough to generate good questions for discussion.

"Mending Wall," Robert Frost (poem)

• With whom do you most identify—the neighbor or the narrator?
• When do "good fences make good neighbors"? What is a good fence?
• Do the narrator and the neighbor find common ground, despite their differences?
• Where do we meet with neighbors to "mend walls"?
  
  

From Laws Concerning Gifts to the Poor, Moses Maimonides (nonfiction)

• Are Maimonides' eight degrees of giving listed in the right order?
• Why might the highest degree of giving be highest?
• Why might the lowest degree be lowest?
• Where do you locate your own giving on this scale?
  
  

"Theme for English B," Langston Hughes (poem)

• What is the purpose of the instructor's assignment?
• Why does the narrator define himself the way he does?
• In what sense are the student and instructor "a part" of one another?
  
  

The Giving Tree, Shel Silverstein (fiction)

• Does the tree give well?
• Does the boy receive well?
• Is it possible to be too generous?
• Does it matter how our gifts are received?
  
  

"The Lovers of the Poor," Gwendolyn Brooks (poem)

• Who are the Ladies of the "Ladies' Betterment League"?
• What do they hope to accomplish? Why?
• Is this poem in any sense about love?
• Have you ever had a feeling of trying "to avoid inhaling the laden air?" When? Why?
  
  

Second Samuel, chapters 11 & 12 (scripture)

• Why does Nathan tell David the story he does? Why does Nathan tell a story at all?
• What effect does David's great power as king have on these events?
• Does Uriah know what David is doing? How much does this matter, and why?
• How do we come to recognize injustice in ourselves or others?