Author Question: How do the priest and Luisas other relatives respond to don Apoloniosrequest to marry her? How does ... (Read 127 times)

Yolanda · **on:** Jul 20, 2018

How do the priest and Luisas other relatives respond to don Apoloniosrequest to marry her? How does Luisa herself react? Why does she agree to do it?

What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

How would you characterize Luisaher sense of herself, her attitudetoward men, her feelings about her uncleat the beginning of the story?

What will be an ideal response?

xMRAZ · **Reply #1 on:** Jul 20, 2018

Answer to Question 1

The others see it as an act of generosity that she deserves, and they feel that it would be churlish and ungrateful of her to refuse. Her own reaction is to stifle a cry of horror (par. 42) and to be overcome by nausea (par. 58). Though strongly opposed to the idearevolted by it, in factshe seems to acquiesce because of the pressure put on her by everyone elses expectation of what her response should be.

Answer to Question 2

At the outset, she is genuinely affectionate toward her uncle; as his illness and her visit awaken many positive childhood memories of him, she is saddened by his impending death and happy to care for him in what she takes to be his final days. Her sense of herself and her attitude toward men is very nicely summed up in her reference to my haughty modesty (par. 2): although aware of how men look at her and what they want from her, she is a true innocent, not only because she is lacking in experience, but also because her lack of experience enables her to make naive assumptions about her ability to control circumstances and to preserve her innocence.