Goodbye Days

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay. 

Scaffolded/Short-Answer Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the below bulleted outlines. Cite details from the play over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. The characters of Eli, Mars, and Blake are all dead when the book begins—however, they still become well-rounded characters throughout the narrative.

• Why is it important for the narrative to provide details about Eli, Mars, and Blake? Why does the author want the reader to connect with and understand these characters—even though they’re dead? (topic sentence)
• Detail two to three ways that the text gives the reader an intimate look at the characters of Eli, Mars, or Blake. Examples could include a goodbye day, a flashback from Carver, or a dialogue between two characters such as Jesmyn and Carver. Use examples from the text to support your ideas.
• Finally, discuss the narrative value of ensuring Eli, Mars, and Blake are presented as well-rounded characters. How does this add to the book’s impact?

2. Goodbye Days is not just about Carver’s working through his grief via goodbye days. There is also a subplot—the possibility that he will face criminal charges.

• Why is this subplot useful? What does it add to the book—tension, uncertainty, suspense, action?
• Describe two to three instances in which the criminal charges subplot moves the narrative forward. Examples could include when Carver’s parents hire an attorney, when the police question Carver, or when the police take Carver’s phone and laptop.
• Finally, consider what the book would be like without the narrative subplot of possible criminal charges.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least 3 main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. The book identifies many POC (persons of color) characters, including Jesmyn, Mars, and Dr. Mendez. Although race is not a major theme, it’s touched on throughout the narrative—for example, through Jesmyn’s calling out Carver’s Casual Racism (casual racism is a subtle form of racism that might usually go unnoticed). Ultimately, Judge Edwards crystallizes the book’s subtle argument against racism when he notes that if charges had been brought in the accident, Mars would have ended up being put on trial for his own death and, very likely, depicted as a “thug” (Chapter 42). Why might the author choose to include this detail? Mars could just as well have been a white character and this point would have been left out completely. What is the value of saving this important argument about race until the very end of the book, dropping it on Carver and the reader in an unexpected conclusion?

2. Carver is a writer. His self-identification as a writer is emphasized when Dr. Mendez asks him to tell stories about the accident that remove Carver from the equation of causality completely. The story featuring Nissan engineer Hiro Takasagawa is especially compelling. Analyze the significance of this embedded narrative.