Challenge 831

Men Overboard

In Thom Arrell’s One Day:
1. If the story is read as an allegory of early industrialization, to what industries and locations of the 19th and 20th centuries would it apply?
2. The image of a single day emphasizes the brevity of the workers’ lifespan. Considering the training the workers need, is “one day” literally practical or even possible?
In Jacqueline Moran Meyer’s Reinventing the Night:
1. Is any male character not depicted as exploitative in some way?
2. Peg and Maureen are shape-shifting vigilantes conducting a series of sting operations designed to dispose of serial killers. Looking at their action from the viewpoint of police procedure, how likely are they to be caught?
In L. S. Popovich’s Echoes From Dust, chapters 57 and 58:
1. What appears to have been the purpose of the Fjord?
2. What was the conflict between Virgil and Remera?
3. Which character or characters remain unaltered or, apparently, unkilled by the end of chapter 58?
4. What has been the role of the male characters in the story to date? The female characters?
In Morris J. Marshall’s Golden Silence:
1. What historical references determine that the story takes place in an alternate universe?
2. Is telepathic communication depicted as natural or as a mental disorder? In what way is it as much a handicap as a tool of omniscience?
3. How does Greg learn the names of Victoria and Eddie?
4. What is the dramatic function of Eddie’s purple hair? Would the character change if his hair weren’t dyed?
5. Mustn’t Victoria and Greg conceal their knowledge that Victoria was “packing heat” in order to avoid damaging her case against Eddie?
6. What is the function of Victoria’s close resemblance to Greg’s daughter, Krista? Would Greg still feel the same if Victoria looked different?

Responses welcome!