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JOHN UPDIKE
1. Who is Jo and how does she respond to her father’s story telling?
2. What possible plot line could the story continue?
3. What do you think was Jo’s problem?
4. What were the common features of the stories told by Jack?
5. What was Roger Skunk’s problem?
6. This was a new phase, just this last month, reality phase. How did Jo behave
in this reality phase?
7. How did Roger pay for the wizard’s help?
8. Why did Roger Skunk’s mother protest?
9. How does Jo’s perspective differ form Jack’?
10. What makes Jack feel caught in an ugly middle position?
11. What custom had Jack kept up with his daughter Jo?
12. What was the basic tale that Jack would narrate to Jo every night?
13. What was true and real about the story about Roger Skunk?
14. What was the anti-climax in the Roger Skunk story?
15. How had Jo expected the story to end?
16. Why was Jack flustered when Jo assumed the story had ended?
17. What was mommy Skunk’s reaction when Roger Skunk got back home?
18. Mommy took Roger Skunk back to the wizard. Why? What is being
reinforced by Jack through this?
19. What is the custom given in the beginning of the story?
20. What was the ‘basics tale’ Jack used every time while telling a new story?
21. What was the role of the wise old owl in each story?
22. What did the wizard do to solve the problem of each creature?
23. Why did the scheme for Jack see futile?
24. Who was the new animal? What was special about it?
25. Why was Roger Skunk unhappy?
26. How did Jo sympathize with Roger Skunk when she heard him in tears?
27. Where did roger Skunk find the owl?
28. Give two examples to show that Jo was very inquisitive?
29. How did the owl guide Roger skunk to go to the wizard?
30. How did the storyteller describe the wizard?
31. What do you think was Jo’s problem?
32. What was the sequence that all the stories that Jack told his daughter follow?
33. How did Jo feel about his stories?
34. How does the reader get the impression that Jo was bored with the stories?
35. What part of the story did Jack himself enjoy the most? Why?
36. How does the reader get the impression that Jack was quite insensitive to the
feelings of his daughter?