Group
work
on Kurt Vonnegut's "The Foster Portfolio"
Break up into
small groups (4-6). Delegate one or more members of your group to (1)
prepare a summary of your group's discussion and (2) make a list of your
group's members.
1. What does the
narrator think of Herbert Foster at the beginning of the story?
What does this tell us about the narrator? What does he value?
2. Who loves whom or what in this story? What does this tell you
about them?
3. Do you think
there is a "moral to the story"--Why or why not? If your group found one
(or more), what is it (or what are they)?
4. What is the experienced truth of "The Foster Portfolio"? - What kind
of real experience(s) does it express? What is Foster's
problem? How does he solve it? Do you know any people who
have solved some of their basic life problems the way (or anything like
the way) Foster did? Explain. If not, explain why you think
Foster's way is so unusual
5. What does the
narrator think of Herbert Foster by the end of the story? What
does this tell us about the narrator? What has he learned?
M. Kagan
COR 400G/PHL 403, Heroism and the Human Spirit
Le Moyne College, November, 2005; revised
April 6, 2020.
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