1. How is Ivan’s life, in many ways, like any man’s life? Provide realistic details that make his life “ordinary” yet “terrible” as the story says.
2. Does Ivan Ilyich experience a Christian conversion? Explain your answer. Who are the characters involved in Ivan’s life at the end that may have led to this? How does Tolstoy use symbolism to
portray this?
Week 6
1. Analyze how Kafka’s style blends reality with fantasy in his famous short story. How are bizarre details and events combined with regular life?
2. Because it’s absurd to say that a man could actually change into a bug, what are Kafka’s points about change? Do the characters in the story have a change of heart? How does Scripture show
examples of God’s power to change us?
Week 7
1. Notice the figurative language (metaphors and similes) used in Prufrock’s journey through city streets. Analyze two examples. Connect these with Eliot’s theme of the alienation and loneliness
felt by many as they journey through modern life.
2. Explain how Yeats uses and twists elements of Christianity to develop his poems
Week 8
1. How does the story reflect the existentialist idea that man has free choice? What are the choices and consequences of the characters? Is there one choice that reflects truth and rightfulness?
2. The story is also known for its absurdism (the philosophy that humans can never find real meaning, and if they try, they will fail). What details in this story reflect absurdism? How does this
contrast to a Christian worldview? Explain.