COMMONLIT Discussion Questions
Directions: Brainstorm your answers to the following questions in the space provided. Be prepared to
share your original ideas in a class discussion.
1. In the context of the poem, how are the lotos flowers influencing the sallors' actions? Do
you think the sailors would be so willing to ignore everything
going on around them if it.
weren't for the flowers? What do you think are the advantages of the sailors continuing to
eat the flowers? What are the disadvantages?

3. of all the characters highlighted in the works included in this unit, which one did you relate to or identify with the most in terms of his or her struggles and conflicts? why? what was it about this character that made him or her affect you as he or she did? be sure to point to specific examples from the work to support your response.

Match the term to the correct example. 1. allusion juliet: else would i tear the cave where echo lies, / and make her airy tongue more hoarse than 2. imagery chorus: that fair for which love groan’d for and would die, / with tender juliet match’d, is now not fair. 3. personification friar laurence: therefore love moderately; long love doth so; / too swift arrives as tardy as too slow. 4. foreshadowing romeo: the brightness of her cheek would shame those stars / as daylight doth a lamp.

Read the excerpt from infinite jest 'my application's not bought," i am telling them, calling into the darkness of the red cave that opens out before closed eyes. 'tam not just a boy who plays tennis. i have an intricate history. experiences and feelings. i'm complex. "read,' i say. 'i study and read. i bet i've read everything you've read. don't think i haven't. i consume libraries. i wear out spines and rom-drives. i do things like get in a taxi and say, "the library, and step on it." my instincts concerning syntax and mechanics are better than your own, i can tell, with due respect. the theme suggested by the excerpt is about a. being understood b. the value of education c. wisdom versus foolishness d. learning responsibility