A visit of charity questions and answers

udora Welty “A Visit of Charity”—Discussion Questions

1. How would you describe Marian’s attitude when she arrives at the nursing home? How charitable is her visit? Does her motivation make her service matter?

2. “There was a smell in the hall like the interior of a clock” (Welty 131). This is a very unusual simile and it is hard to decipher. Can you try to make sense of it? Explain

3. How do the two women receive Marian and how would you describe Addie? Why does Addie look at Marian with “despair and calculation”?

4. Why does Marian feel that being in the old women’s room is “… like being caught in a robbers’ cave, just before one was murdered” (Welty 132)?

5. The old women are referred to as “bleating sheep” and “birds with claws.” What kind of picture does this paint of these old women and is this animalistic imagery purposely derogatory?

6. When Marian begins to wonder about Addie, why are we told, “It was the first time such a thing had happened to her” (Welty 134)?

7. Why does the first old woman say, “Well, it was a real visit” (Welty 134)? Is there more than a generous slice of sarcasm in this comment? Explain.

8. Why does Marian run out of the old ladies’ home and what is the significance of her reaching for an apple that she hid in the prickly shrub before she entered the building?

9. Does Marian learn anything meaningful from the visit? Is she beginning to become aware of her own mortality? Why or why not?

10. What does the story illustrate when it comes to how we as a society deal with the old, the sick, and the infirm? The story was written in 1941, but could it happen today?

11. What might be the central idea of this story