Friday, February 11, 2011

Blog Prompts (The Gilda Stories)

A few prompts for this week:

1) How is "family" defined within The Gilda Stories? How do the types of families Gomez represents differ from traditional ideas of "family"? What is Gomez's purpose in showing us alternative forms of family via her vampire characters? Use specific examples from the chapters this week to support your opinion.

2) We know that Gilda is an outcast first because she is a vampire, and second because she is a black vampire--a rarity within the world of the novel and within vampire fiction in general. Do Gilda and her fellow vampires function as metaphors for individuals that can be viewed as outcasts in real life (women, people of color, gays and lesbians, the disabled, etc.)? If so, how? In asking her readers to consider the lives of her vampire characters is Gomez's purpose to make us more tolerant of those who are "different"? Use specific examples from the chapters this week to support your opinion.

3) Revisit our discussion of Gilda and Julius. Does she turn him into a vampire for selfish reasons or out of concern and love? Does she make the right choice in doing so? Does giving Julius a new life in some way make up for the times when Gilda has had to kill? Use specific examples from Chapter 5 to support your opinions.

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