Understanding the story

1. Why does the author describe the locality in such detail at the beginning? What impression do you get of the countryside and of the house?

2. Why is the old house so important to Jim Moore? Does the author give us the full reason right at the beginning? Why not?

3. Why wasn't Jim proud of his wife's relations? Why did he marry her?

4. Why did Jim not intend to take Jelka's father's advice? What does this tell us about Jim's character?

5. Would you describe Jelka as a "perfect wife"? Give your reasons.

6. How did Jim treat his wife?

7. Why did he start visiting the Three Star bar after a year of marriage?

8. How does Jim's comment about his wife's being "home in the barn" reflect their relationship? Do you find the joke funny? Give your reasons.

9. What evidence can you find in the text that Jim is being unfaithful to his wife?

10. Can you find any hints that Jelka might have a lover? Does Jim notice them?

11. Why did Jim return to his farm that Saturday night?

12. What aroused his suspicions when he arrived back home? Do you think he was listening especially carefully as he approached his farm? What for?

13. What effect does Jim's discovery in the bedroom have on him? What would have been your first reaction?

14. What strikes you as strange about the murder itself?

15. What was Jelka's reaction when she woke to find Jim in the bedroom? Would your reaction have been the same?

16. How does the author describe Jelka? What does this description remind you of earlier in the story?

17. What was Jelka probably thinking all this time?

18. Why didn't Jim kill both of them and then pretend they had been killed by the cattle thieves?

19. What do the attitudes of the deputy sheriff and the coroner tell us about life in California 80 years ago?

20. What gave Jim the idea to punish Jelka and what was her reaction to it?

21. Do you think Jelka hates Jim for killing her lover? Give your reasons.

22 What strikes you as strange about the ending of the story? How did you expect the story to end?

Style and language

1. Steinbeck puts the end of the story at the beginning. What is his intention in doing this? Have you come across it in other stories in this collection? Are you familiar with this method from other media?

2. How does Steinbeck, as a third-person narrator not himself involved in the story, build up his characters? By revealing to us their inner thoughts? By revealing character through action? By revealing character through speech? Find examples from the text and discuss them.

3. The moods and feelings of characters in this story often reflect – or are reflected by - natural occurrences. How many examples of this can you find?

4. Steinbeck is a master in the art of conjuring up atmosphere by his use of descriptive passages. Find two or three passages describing scenes which another author might have left out or described in less detail. Which important occurrence in the story is not described at all? Why do you think Steinbeck left it out, and why do you think he spends so much time describing "unimportant" actions?