"Violets" depends heavily for its effect on flower symbolism. What are the implications of the violets, orange-blossoms and tube-roses mentioned in the story? Evergreens and pinks? How does Dunbar-Nelson use these objects to shape the narrative? What role does Easter play in the story? What are the narrative gains and losses by this reliance on setting and detail to convey story and theme? What differences between men and women are defined here? What about the "regal-looking woman lounging before the fire"?

"The Woman" is really more of an essay than a story, but it does lay out Dunbar-Nelson's views on women and work fairly plainly (and is, by the way, an example of early black feminist writing by a woman who, as Ann Allen Shockley suggests, "would not have thought of it as such at the time"¹). What are the advantages that Dunbar-Nelson sees for working women? How does she define the disadvantages of marriage? Does she ultimately argue for or against marriage? Why (not)? How does the opening vignette dramatize popular conceptions of the working woman? What ideas or prejudices does Dunbar-Nelson seem to be arguing against?

Like "Violets," "At Eventide" depends on setting and symbolism to carry the narrative. What is the effect of the eventide setting in this story? What has wrecked the story of their love? What conflict does the woman face? How is marriage portrayed here? What roles for women are implied in the imagery of a "soiled lily," "gaudy sunflower," and "modest shrinking violet"? What (if any) ambivalence do you detect in the final paragraph of the story? Why is the woman faithless? Why is the man?

What does the relationship between Tony and his wife reveal about contemporary views of marriage and/or of men and women? How does ethnicity shape the conflicts and characters of this story? How (and why) does Dunbar-Nelson use stereotypes? What is the evidence that Tony's wife has more substance than Tony might appreciate? What does the end of the story suggest about Dunbar-Nelson's view of women's situation in marriage? Why do you think she ends the story so harshly?

How are the two rivals in "The Goodness of St. Rocque" characterized? What gives Manuela the advantage? What is the effect of two intercessors, the Wizened One and St. Rocque? How is Creole society depicted here? How do its conventions shape the possibilities (and limits) of female agency? Compare this story to "At the 'Cadian Ball." How do issues of race, class, and gender interact differently? Similarly?

What effect does the setting of "A Carnival Jangle" or "Odalie" have on the outcomes of the story? In how many different ways does Dunbar-Nelson use the notion of disguise? What are the thematic implications, for example, of Flo's disguise--and demise? What roles do women play here? Compare Josepha's fate with Odalie's.

What do we learn from "The Praline Woman"'s monologue about her situation and history? Her attitudes? What do we learn about the people and culture of New Orleans? What is the effect of the dialect in this story? What is the effect of only hearing the praline woman's voice?

What are the sources of Sr. Josepha's rebellion and restlessness? How do her origins limit her options? Why does she refuse to go with the couple who come for her? What might have been her future if she had? How does the setting of the Cathedral festivities work as the occasion of Sr. Josepha's falling in love? What is the effect of focussing on the young man's "brown eyes"? What changes her plans for escape? What does the ending of the story imply about a (beautiful) young woman's alternatives? What are implications of her names--Camille and Sr. Josepha? What thematic role does the convent play here?

What place does Mr. Baptiste occupy in his society? What are its ambiguities? What do we learn about the structures of this society from this story? How does Mr. Baptiste define his allegiances? How do the Irish strikers regard him? What accounts for the change? What is the effect of Mr. Baptiste's anonymity? The narrator tells us at the end that "The individual, the concret bit of helpless humanity, had more interest for them than the vast, vague fighting mod beyond." What are the implications here for her fiction?

        Shockley, Ann Allen. "Alice Ruth Moore Dunbar Nelson, 1875-1935" in Afro-American Women Writers 1746-1933: An Anthology and Critical
       Guide. New York: New American Library 1988. 262-267.[back to text]