Ten Interpretive Questions about "Rose"

1. Is Rose's current situation (her depressed state of mind) her fault?

2. Why didn't Rose find her children's foster home and try to stay close with them? Should she have?

3. Why can't Rose see the blessing in the fire the way the narrator does? Why doesn't the narrator try to point that out to her?

4. Even before mentioning abuse, the narrator states that Jim and Rose "were not driven, guided, by either passionate belief or strong resolve (214). Why aren't they driven? Was there some even that sucked all their passion out of them? Were they never really in love? Is it their poor situation?

5. Why does Dubus include all the introductory stuff like about the boy in the military? What can be connected from Rose's story and the other things Dubus talks about?

6. The narrator says hell must be filled with passive people. Why is passiveness that bad? What makes Rose be so passive? What makes us be passive?

7. When Rose is cutting onions and Jim slaps their son, are her tears really just because of the onions? Has she already become hardened to troubles?

8. Why does this story take place in a bar, where Rose only tells her story after a few drinks? Is that significant? How would the story change if Rose was a close friend of the narrator, or someone he visited in a nursing home?

9. Why does the story end with Rose unhappy? What can we get out of seeing her with unresolved problems?

10. Is Rose a strong, blessed woman as the narrator sees her, even though she doesn't feel that? Why?