Exploring the Text

Exploring the Text

Access the text here.

  1. How does the first paragraph set up expectations for the rest of “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place”? Does the essay fulfill those expectations or defy them? Explain your answer.

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - How does the first paragraph set up expectations for the rest of “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place”? Does the essay fulfill those expectations or defy them? Explain your answer.
  2. What meaning does “American lighting” (par. 2) have for Yiyun Li?

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - What meaning does “American lighting” (par. 2) have for Yiyun Li?
  3. What do the phrases Li remembers from her “four-cassette course in American English” (par. 3) have in common with the very American expectation to have fun that she encounters everywhere? Why do you think that connection is significant to her?

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - What do the phrases Li remembers from her “four-cassette course in American English” (par. 3) have in common with the very American expectation to have fun that she encounters everywhere? Why do you think that connection is significant to her?
  4. Do you think Li answers the question she asks in paragraph 3: “How does one live in such a well-lighted country?” Explain your answer.

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - Do you think Li answers the question she asks in paragraph 3: “How does one live in such a well-lighted country?” Explain your answer.
  5. Edward Hopper is known for his paintings of landscapes and people that highlight their isolation. Nighthawks, his painting of a coffee shop late at night, in which four people seem to be in their own worlds, is especially famous. How does Li’s allusion to Hopper help her comment on what she finds strange about life in America?

    Question

    ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=
    Exploring the Text: - Edward Hopper is known for his paintings of landscapes and people that highlight their isolation. Nighthawks, his painting of a coffee shop late at night, in which four people seem to be in their own worlds, is especially famous. How does Li’s allusion to Hopper help her comment on what she finds strange about life in America?