Post Discussion 3
Humanities
Read Margaret Atwood’s piece, (which was really a speech), entitled; An End to Audience.
Choose 1 of the questions below to build your Response Essay.
1 pg. is fine.
- Do you agree? Is authorship and literature, as we know it, becoming extinct?
2. She goes on to say that “If this is so, [do] we think authors and stories, poetry and fiction, are a good thing or a bad thing? And if they are a good thing, what are they good for?
3. What kind of activity do you think writing is in the world today? Who’s listening? And to what?
4. On pg. 16, Atwood states: “Writing itself is a process, an activity which moves in time and through time, and it is self-less.” What does she mean by this statement?
5. On pg. 18 at the bottom, she says, “The writer bears witness. Bearing witness is not the same as self-expression.” Why not? Explain the difference between the two.
6. On pg. 20, she writes; “Writer and audience are Siamese twins. Kill one and you run the risk of killing the other. Try to separate them and you run the risk of having two half-dead people. …” What does she mean in this statement?
7. At the bottom of pg. 17, (the last full paragh beginning at…”Here is what I believe…”) discuss what Atwood is talking about in this paragraph. How does this apply to her idea that democracy cannot exist on entertainment writing alone?
8. Expand on Atwood’s idea that a democracy requires that people work with the printed word. And, writing has to do with Power.
9. Develop her idea that ultimately, the audience determines what direction writing takes in a democracy.
