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What is happening in the story (PLOT) and what is its primary CONFLICT?

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What is happening in the story (PLOT) and what is its primary CONFLICT?

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An unnamed ghost resides (technically “haunts” - more on that later) in the home of a three-member family: the mother and her son and daughter. The story revolves around the ghost’s everyday interactions with the family and the neighbor. However, the family dislikes her presence in their home, so the conflict is “haunting.”

First, the ghost herself is haunted “by her feelings of inadequacy, by her missed opportunities.” It remains as a mystery how she remained as a ghost, however these heavy, human-like feelings eventually manifest and drive her to “turn[s] out drawers, look[s] under chairs and tables”, “forget how to fold clothes”, and “cry.” The family is greatly troubled by this sudden tantrum because they have always been able to appease the ghost; the ghost’s sudden outburst disrupts the established quietness to the family’s normal life because they are now haunted by a poltergeist. The same goes with the neighbor: He feels unsettled because the ghost’s feeling of unhappiness was “entirely too much emotion […] for his comfort.”

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When and where can this story have taken place? How can you describe the social and cultural conditions in which the story takes place (SETTING)? 

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When and where can this story have taken place? How can you describe the social and cultural conditions in which the story takes place (SETTING)? 

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Despite the mid-20th century elements referenced throughout the story, the story is set in current time, 21st century:

1. The daughter’s “playmates” during teatime: Jack Skellington, Rapunzel, and Elsa.

2. The mother appears to be a single mother - an idea that would be unwelcome in the earlier centuries - who “clicks on New York Times recipes she will never make.”

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Who are the major persons involved in the story? How would you describe them?

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Who are the major persons involved in the story? How would you describe them?

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1. The ghost - From the beginning, the ghost is introduced as a character filled with regret. An observation I have noted is that the ghost’s behavior in her environment is rather humanly in nature as she does house chores, e.g. doing laundry on Tuesdays, reorganizes silverware, eats salted caramel ice cream and Hawaiian pizza, listens to mid-20th century music, and drinks orange juice with vodka. Her interaction with humans, on the other hand, is detached - almost dissociative - as the ghost hardly says anything unless prompted a question.

2. The mother is described as “a tough nut to crack” because she refuses to express vulnerability in front of the children and the ghost. She is motherly as well as seen in scenarios like exploring ghost-removal. I believe she acted accordingly to protect her family’s peace and space. Though she disproves of the ghost’s presence in their home, she lets the ghost stay with them and “[...] takes the ghost’s hand [...] [and] puts her head on the ghost’s shoulder” in comforting the ghost - showing that she is empathetic.

3. Not much is said about the children, only that the daughter is “angry at the ghost” and the son is sad - “The small son is drawn to her sadness and thinks he would like to try it on.”

4. The neighbor is a modern man, never believing the concept of ghosts; rather wealthy because “He works in finance” and lives in the brownstone next door; “And he is lonely” and sad because he continues to grieve his divorce and loss of custody over his son.

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What do you think is the short story/work of fiction trying to say? What is the story’s message?

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What do you think is the short story/work of fiction trying to say? What is the story’s message?

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Regret and loss are strong themes as the story begins with describing the home as “haunted by her [the ghost’s] feelings of inadequacy, by her missed opportunities” and “swollen by all the lives she never lived, the chances she never took.” These themes are more reflected in the characters:

1. The ghost tries to seek as to how she became a ghost;

2. The family have lost their own peaceful and personal space because of the ghost residing with them;

3. The neighbor has lost his marriage and custody over his child and he continues to grieve.

These themes are hardly complete without human connection - the heart of the story is the relationships between the characters even if these relationships are not as well-established and up to personal interpretation. Moreover, within these relationships are habitual and intimate interactions among the characters that cannot be dismissed as anything light:

1. The ghost - the family: Their relationship is quite complicated. Though the family dislikes the ghost’s presence in their home, they still show warmth to her because the mother sits with the ghost and the children every Saturday afternoon and holds her hand in the middle of a breakdown; “The daughter allows the ghost to braid her hair…” and lets the ghost eat her favorite pizza with avoiding to hurt the ghost’s feelings; and the son kisses the ghost’s foot after secluding himself. The ghost, in turn, “would say that this is her home.”

2. The ghost - the neighbor: Personally, there is no other way to bond with one another through the words of others and in this case, it is music. It is not the frequency of them spending time together that formed their connection, but the neighbor expressing his vulnerability to the ghost, a “no one” and his curiosity towards the ghost because he asks her why she is unhappy.

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Do you think that your chosen text is relevant to the world today? Why or why not?

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Do you think that your chosen text is relevant to the world today? Why or why not?

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To a degree, like all the characters in the short story, we are “haunted” — whether by past decisions, things that were said but, in retrospect, should not have, illness, and more. While I cannot personally relate to the characters, I am certain that others have and possibly, have seen themselves reflected by the story and/or the characters. Moreover, the feeling of loss and regret — and perhaps grief, too — is universally experienced especially in the pandemic. Contemporary texts, such as “How to Share Your Home With a Ghost”, have the power to express what others could not express and to comfort those at a time where isolation is crucial but more so human connection.

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Seeing the text and the world in each other: What do you think the short story/poem/essay tells us about the world? How is our world reflected in and by this short story/poem/essay?

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Seeing the text and the world in each other: What do you think the short story/poem/essay tells us about the world? How is our world reflected in and by this short story/poem/essay?

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The desire to connect, to belong has always been inherent to us, so the story shows the value of human relationships in keeping us welcome, comforted - and if those do not apply - at least sane. As the ghost says, “I want you to see me.” While we possess the individual capacity to view and define ourselves with our own terms, I believe that our lives would not be as half as meaningful when others, especially those who we love and care for and vice versa, do not witness our journey and partake in it.

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What are your personal thoughts, comments, and reactions to the short story/poem/essay you chose? In what ways does your chosen text resonate with you?

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What are your personal thoughts, comments, and reactions to the short story/poem/essay you chose? In what ways does your chosen text resonate with you?

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I have a theory: The ghost is the grandmother. Her daughter is the mother and her grandchildren are the children. The music genre the ghost is from the mid-20th century, like Edith Piaf, and taking into consideration that the short story is set in the 21st century, the ghost would have been in her 60s to 70s. In the section of “The Family, Part II”, a line writes: “[...] the mother realizes it isn’t the grandmother at all but the ghost, and instead of knitting needles she is folding T-shirts.” This line, for me, concludes the suspicion I have had throughout reading the story - that the way the author wrote and built the relationship between the ghost and the family is quite intimate as if their interactions are carried on from a time when the ghost was alive.

Admittedly, this story did not resonate with me as much because I had selected this story because of its structure and plot. However, I do sympathize with the ghost’s pursuit for the sense of belongingness: In this busy and crazy world, knowing that you can have a place and people to come back to makes life more tolerable, more liveable.