Discussion Questions
1. How do the touches of humor, such as
the ship's well-meaning incompetence, fit into a story dominated by guilt
and anxiety and loss?
2. This story invokes the SF icon of the
spaceship, which usually conveys ideas of adventure, protection, and technological
advancement. What does it do with the icon?
3. How do extrapolated details like the
semi-animated paintbox contribute to the sense of an estranged reality?
4. Is Victor Kemmings an abnormally guilt-ridden
individual or a normal person under circumstances that emphasize his anxieties?
5. What does the story suggest about memories
as objective records of the past? |
