QUESTIONS

1. How do the main characters reveal themselves in the first chapter?
   

2. Are the country folk Fay and Laurel encounter in the hospital waiting room (pages 37-40) included simply for comic relief? How do they fit in with the serious themes of the novel?
   

3. What do we know about Laurel’s life in Chicago?
   

4. How does Welty use inanimate objects to convey meaning and communicate the characters’ thoughts, often when nothing is said?
   

5. What are the “dark elements” in the story?
   

6. Is Fay’s bad behavior merely a sign of immaturity, or does it show something basically defective about her character?
   

7. What images of family togetherness do we get from the different characters?
   

8. What are the comic elements in the story? How does Welty balance poignancy and humor? Does it work, or is the contrast jarring?
   

9. What memories does Laurel treasure from her family and her childhood?
   

10. What memories trouble her?
    

11. What does the story tell us about the falseness or truth of memories?
    

12. What details does Welty use to show how Laurel reconnects to her parents?
    

13. Does Fay learn anything? Does she change?
    

14. How does The Optimist’s Daughter reflect the time in which it was written (1969) in terms of style, language, details?