Soon
“Soon,” Study Questions.
1.In “Chance” Juliet is 21.In the second story, she is 25, visiting her parents in Ontario with her baby daughter, Penelope. She lives in Whale Bay, B.C. with Eric, Penelope’s father, but she and Eric are not married. The plot of the story follows Juliet’s visit and, on the surface,it looks uneventful. But give it another read, and you will find more than meets the eye here. For example, Juliet buys her parents a print titled “I and the Village” by a French modernist painter Marc Chagall at the gift shop of the Vancouver Art Gallery. The print ends up on the wall in the attic of her parents’ house but Juliet learns from her mother that her father removed and put it away.Why?
2.What is our initial impression of Juliet’s parents, Sam and Sara? (any ideas about Munro’s choice of their names?) “Juliet” pp.44-45.Does this impression change as the story unfolds?
3.How would you characterize Irene’s attitude towards Juliet? The narrator describes it as “indifferent but uncompromising, like a cat’s). Any reasons why Irene is like that towards Juliet? ( see the concluding paragraph on p.52). What exactly is Irene’s function in the story?
4.What is it that makes Sara disapprove of her husband? What does that disapproval suggest about Sara? Whose side in that little marital conflict is Juliet on and why? (see pp.55-56).
- What do you make of the episode described by Juliet to Sam in which she was meeting Little Charlie, her former high-school mate, while shopping downtown with Penelope. Charlie appears affable and friendly, but Munro drops hints and details that suggest the opposite. Can you spot them? (pp.58-59).
6.Why did Sam “quit” his job as a teacher in a local school? (pp.59-30). How does Sam feel about his community? Is there a contrast between the social values in The Eastern Canada as opposed to the West?
7.How does Juliet feel when her father speaks approvingly about Irene (and her family)? How do you read Juliet’s statement about them when she says to Sam: “I hope you don’t mean to get us mixed up with people like that.” (p.66,par.2).
- What does Juliet’s dream about her father sprinkling Irene with a hose imply about her true feelings about Sam and Irene? Why does she think later that her dream was “shameful…Obvious, banal.” Are her suspicions justified and/or confirmed?
9.In what sense does Juliet’s heated argument with Don, Sarah’s “friend and minister”, about Christian faith represent a broader conflict between Juliet and the world she left behind by moving to West Coast? What values specifically are in conflict here?
- When, at the end of the story, Sara defends Don’s faith by saying that he needs it because of his poor health, Juliet says quietly: “Foxhole argument…” Could you find out what that phrase means and explain it in the context of Juliet’s world view.
11.Re-read the four concluding paragraphs in “Soon” and give me your thoughts on the Juliet’s relationship with her mother and on how, in your view, this relationship ends (or perhaps doesn’t end). How do you understand the meaning of “soon” here?
12.” The complexity of things—the things within things—just seems to be endless. I mean nothing is easy, nothing is simple,” said Munro in one of her interviews. Do you think that “Soon” successfully illustrates this statement? One or two specific examples to support your answer?
