All the writers whom Paley mentions by name in the story are male. In what ways might gender impact the kind of story that the writer is interested in telling?

Towards the end of the story, the writer remarks that it is a “funny world” (Paragraph 48). Discuss this remark in terms of the story’s broader interest in comedy versus tragedy.

The father repeatedly describes his taste in stories as “plain” or “simple.” What do these words mean to him, and what does that tell us about him as a character?