“Sure,” I said right away.  I was only too glad to get up and do something.  I took her dress over to the closet and hung it up for her.  It was funny.  It made me feel sort of sad when I hung it up.  I thought of her going in a store and buying it, and nobody in the store knowing she was a prostitute and all.  The salesman probably just thought she was a regular girl when she bought it.  It made me feel sad as hell—I don’t know why exactly (125).

            Discuss the significance of Sunny’s green dress.  Are we to believe that Holden doesn’t “know why” he feels so sad? How can you account for his sadness?

The Camellia

Sometimes a physical gesture can be as if not more important than

what is said in a novel.  This is the case with Jem's reaction to what

Mrs. Dubose gives him: "He picked up the camellia, and when I went

off to bed I saw him fingering the wide petals" (149).  What is the

significance of this act?  What is it telling us about Jem?

Jem's Change

Jem is clearly changing.  How?  Why?

Is there a way, in the view of life we see in this novel,
to reconcile the need for survival with

the love that Buck has for John Thornton?