Give a brief written or oral summary of the story in your own words
1. Pick out any unusual descriptive adjectives or nouns which you can find (" the open maw of the fridge" and the " sleeping raspberries" are two examples) and discuss the effect they have on the reader. 2. What are the " white snakes with purple figures" mentioned when Naomi reaches the cash tills? Are there any other worrying animal images in the story? Points for discussion
1. " True fiction" normally deals with something which - though it did not actually happen - might easily have happened in reality. Is the same true of this story? Would you classify it as " true fiction" or could you find some other description for this type of literature? 2. Contrast the world of " motherhood" as shown on the TV screens and the actual world of the young mother in the supermarket. 3. " I could do the shopping with my eyes shut." What is the significance of Naomi's thought in the context of what happens later? 4. Rearranging the shelves in a supermarket should not provoke panic. Why does this sudden change in routine cause such a reaction? 5. Is Naomi's behaviour rational? Can you believe that something like this might actually happen? 6. Naomi actually manages to collect the things she needs, but they are in the wrong order. Does this really matter? Discuss the significance of order in the world shown in this story. 7. The story expresses something which people living in our present-day world might like to do. What normally stops them from behaving like this? 8. Until the police arrive at the end of the story, we are dealing with an exclusively women's world. Do you see any potential conflict between the sexes building up at the end of the story? 9. Is what is described here a specifically female experience, or can you imagine a male version of the story? What situations might it involve? 10. Have you ever felt that you would like to behave like this? Give reasons why or why not. 11. What is the effect of bringing back the " sixteen dark-haired mothers" on the TV screens at the end of the story? 12. Give a full stylistic analysis of the text.
Jonathan Carroll
The contemporary writer Jonathan Carroll is the author of seven relatively unknown novels. He lives in Vienna and has published a collection of short stories in German entitled Die panische Hand. This story appeared in English in a collection of short stories published in 1993 in London by Time Out a leisure-time magazine with which the author has long been associated.
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