Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. In addition to the devastating effects on combatants, war also influences how society views itself and what it values. War shapes the consciousness of entire generations, even those who never come near a battlefield. How can war affect communities? How can it change the structure of the typical family?  

Teaching Suggestion: This Short Answer question orients students to the theme of War’s Effect on the Social Conscience. War causes huge social changes in the way people communicate, the prevailing beliefs we have about our place in the world, and the public’s trust in institutions. In the text, the adult male figures are conspicuously absent from the home; the grandfather, who suffers from war-related trauma, lives in the attic where the family leaves him undisturbed, even after he shoots a police officer. For Thurber, war is not a clearly defined event but rather an unseen presence causing people to react unpredictably, connecting with the theme of The Unknown and Meaningless.

• Chapman University’s article “The Impact of WWI Is All Around, Despite Its Ambiguity” explores some of WWI’s long-term effects on the American consciousness.