"No One's a Mystery"

http://scottengnote.blogspot.com/2007/09/no-ones-mystery.html

http://scottengnote.blogspot.com/2007/09/no-ones-mystery.html

"No One's a Mystery"
by Elizabeth Tallent

narrator: the girl , first person point of view
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characters:
Jack: middle-aged, occupation?
        drove a truck
        smoked
        wore jeans
        talked ill of his wife

18-year-old nameless girl
        who was under age when she met Jack

Jack's wife: middle-aged,by the car and the way she drive
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Situation:birthday celebration and a 5-year diary as a gift

Setting of time: the girl's 18th birthday
autumn: the wheat was fawn and yellow

Place : in Jack's truck
2003年人口普查,懷俄明州(Wyoming)有501,242人,是全美國人口最少的一州,也是在全美國中印第安人比例最高的州.

Every details adds up to the meaning and is suggestive.

Vocabulary

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Plot:
The girl was pushed down --> Her position was low.
Her posture suggests her position of their relationship.

diary ------------> a private record of life
keeps secrets/mysteries

Girl: innocent, naive, unrealistic
Jack: sly, disgusting, selfish, insincere

	Jack	girl
tonight	she loves Jack	agrees
in a year	she parts with Jack	get married
in 2 years	she forgets about Jack	They have a son little Jack
in 3 years	he laughed at the name Rosamund	They have daughter named Eliza Rosamund

middlename: sometimes mother's last name

Story's title is from lyrics of the song  "It Hasn't Happened Yet"
No One's a Mystery

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Questions:
1.How does Jack's present to the narrator, the "five-year diary with a latch and a little key," function symbolically in the story?

2.What do we learn about Jack's marriage? Through what details are these insights communicated?

3.What does each character's version of their future tell us about him or her?

4.The story ends with Jack's words,"if you want to know the truth." Do you think that the narrator does want to know the truth? Explain.

5.A quoted phrase can often take on new meanings in a new context. Consider the story's title:Is its application to the story literal or ironic?

How is the title related to Elizabeth Tallent's story?

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