Porcupines at the University and The School by Donald Barthelme

This week's selections are by Donald Barthelme, a literary giant in the world of short story authors. He's known for his exceptionally compact stories, wordplay, and occasional epiphanic moments caught in absurd incidents. Porcupines at the University can be found in his collection 40 Stories and The School can be found anthologized in many short story collections, readings, and in 60 Stories. Porcupines at the University is about a university president's fears about the approach of porcupines that he doesn't want at his university and about a porcupine wrangler, who's not actually bringing them there. Is it an allegory? Or is it just funny images put to words? The School is a fun little story about a classroom dealing with the reality of death, whom my favorite short story author, George Saunders, gives an excellent analysis of its mechanics and perfection.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

The School
1. Comments on style? (POV, language, tone, etc.)

2. How do we deal with death? When a student dies in one of our buildings, how do we respond to support those who knew him/her? What's the typical university response? How do we respond to support the residence hall population? How do we respond to individuals?

3. Are we equipped to confront death on campus?

4. How do we answer questions from our mentees to which we don't have an answer? Can we say "I don't know," and maintain credibility/authority/value?

5. What do you think of the story's resolution? Do you, like the children, cheer wildly?

Porcupines at the University
1. Comments on style? (POV, language, tone, etc.)

2. Do you read this as a funny, absurd tale with strange characters? Or as an allegorical fable?

3. There is a clash of cultures between the world of the porcupine wrangler and the world of the dean. Their different assumptions and expectations almost lead to a tragedy. What clash of cultures do we experience in our work at a university?

4. Are there fears about the possible over-enrollment of any particular population and the campus' ability to manage that population?

5. The dean and the wrangler embody too different ideas of accomplished men. How do their views/treatment of women (dean's wife / fancy women) reinforce or undermine their masculinity? What roles of manhood do our male students seek and do those roles affect their treatment of our female students?

6. In the final paragraph, Barthelme writes,

"The citizens in their cars looked at the porcupines, thinking: What is wonderful? Are these porcupines wonderful? Are they significant? Are they what I need?"

Assuming the porcupines are an allegory for "the other," how do the citizens' thoughts compare with how the dominant culture views "the other."

The Man From Mars - Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood's The Man From Mars from her 1977 short story collection, Dancing Girls is a frequently anthologized story about a young college female, who after showing some kindness to an international exchange student from Asia, finds herself doggedly "pursued" by him. She is at times embarrassed, frightened, and empowered by his attention. The story is set on a Canadian college campus and raises issues of national identity, class identity, and gender identity.

Some questions that I thought would lead to interesting discussion are:

1. Consider the different aspects of Christine’s identity in the story, “The Man From Mars,” – how do they affect the way she acts/thinks? Her national identity? Her gender identity? Her class identity?

2. Christine’s family calls people from other countries, “a person from another culture.” Do you think this phrase is applied also to Canadian minorities? Did your family have a particular phrase for “the other?” How does  confusion over whether her “friend’s” behavior is normal for his culture affect Christine’s response? How have cultural misunderstandings affect student’s you work with (i.e., roommate conflict)? How have cultural misunderstandings affected your response to individuals from other cultures/countries?

3. Christine wants to be a good ambassador and “ do her duty” by being polite when she first meets him, having him over for tea – are there examples when you made yourself uncomfortable because you wanted to represent your national/class/racial/gender/sexual identity in a positive light? Do you have examples of students you’ve worked with doing so?

4. Christine doesn’t consider her family wealthy. Her father says “nobody made any money with the Government.” When did you become conscious of your class identity? How do you think awareness (or lack of) affects the students we work with? 

5. In describing her role as a woman, Christine “wasn’t a cock-teaser, a cold fish, an easy lay or a snarky bitch; she was an honorary person. She had grown to share [her male friends] contempt for most women.” This story was set presumably in the 60s (before the outbreak of the Vietnam War) – are these categories for women still present? How do they affect our students? Who defines them?

6. Being chased made Christine feel special. How valid is the idea that you should be attractive to someone else to be special? How does this affect the students we work with?

7. In the story, Christine’s “friend” faces explicit limitations in the form of language difficulties and visa permit regulations. Presumably, he also struggles with financial issues and finding friends also from Vietnam. What struggles do international students face? How can we help them?