The Far and the Near

Analyze the significance in the details used to describe only the house and the women, as opposed to the rest of the town. Even as the engineer journey’s through the town on foot, details are minimal—why might this be, and what would the effect be if additional town detail was added to the story?

What information leads you to trust, or not trust, your initial reading of the narration in the first half of the story?

Consider the brevity of the story. How does this serve the delivery, and how might this delivery change in tone and effect if the story had more detail and length?