19 pages • 38 minutes read
Alice WalkerRoselily
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1973A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Essay Topics
How does the juxtaposition between Roselily’s interiority and her external surroundings mirror the struggles she has faced in her life?
How do Roselily and her groom exemplify two prominent figures of the Civil Rights movement, the Black Southern Baptist and the Black Muslim? How do they deviate from those roles?
The story frequently alludes to bondage when it refers to the institution of marriage. What does marriage mean to Roselily? Does the story resolve her concerns? If so, how?
How do the first two lines of the story prime the reader to understand Roselily’s state of mind?
Imagine a version of “Roselily” set today. How would the protagonist’s range of possible choices be different? How would they be similar to those in the original story?
Religion weighs heavily on Roselily’s mind throughout the story. How does the story portray the roles religion can play in the lives of Black Americans?
Is Roselily’s choice to marry the groom the right one? What forms of compromise and oppression does it enable her to escape, and what forms does it contain?
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By Alice Walker
