Reading Assignment for “Old Mrs. Grey”
First, color mark 5 or more patterns in the essay.
Don’t forget to make a key. Your patterns should be specific and labeled
specifically as well.
Then answer the questions below.
- What sort of “rest” do you think Woolf might be
talking about in the first paragraph and why?
- As the essay progresses, Woolf writes “Of all this
however only seven foot by four could be seen from Mrs. Grey’s corner.”
What is “all this?” How do you know?
- Discuss your understanding of Mrs. Grey. Who is
she? How does Woolf portray her?
- Refer back to question #2. What significance is
there to the fact that Mrs. Grey can only see a “seven foot by four”
section of “all this?”
- By the end of the essay, what sort of “rest” do you
think Woolf is really talking about? Why?
- Give your reaction to the final images in the
essay: “We put out the eyes and the ears; but we pinion it there, with a
bottle of medicine, a cup of tea, a dying fire, like a rook on a barn
door; but a rook that still lives, even with a nail through it.” What
effect(s) does this sentence create? How do you know?
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