The Box Man - AP Lang

What stroke of good fortune occurred for the Box Man at the beginning of the story?

What motive drove the narrator to will the Box Man towards the cardboard cartons?

The Box Man appears headless due to the height of his collar.

Compare and contrast the living conditions and intentions of The Boxcar Children with those of the Box Man. How do their choices reflect their perspectives on life?

What will she do with the rest of the night?

Does she have any children who live far away and prefer not to visit?

Did she work as a secretary for forty years in a downtown office?

Does she receive a Christmas card each year from her ex-boss?

Does she watch game shows?

When she rides the buses on her Senior Citizen pass, does she go anywhere or wait for something to happen?

Does she have a niece like the one in Cynthia Ozick’s story “Rosa,” who sends enough money to keep her aunt at a distance?

Is there a lady across the way whose lights and television stay on all night?

Does this lady have a plethora of plants – African violets, a Ficus tree, a palm, and geraniums in season – that she waters?

Does the Box Man prefer to move in darkness and likes it that way?

Is the Box Man not waiting for the phone to ring or an engraved invitation to arrive in the mail?

Does the Box Man believe that loneliness chosen loses its sting and claims no victims?

Do we all secretly know that, although we long for perfect harmony and communion with another soul, this is a solo voyage?

Is the first half of our lives spent stubbornly denying that we are on a solo voyage?

As children, do we soon learn from the blank stares in response to our babblings that even our saviors, our parents, are strangers?

In adolescence, do we begin the quest for the best friend who will receive all thoughts as if they were her own?

Although true love may find many ways, is there no escape from exile?

Are the shores littered with outcasts from the dream of perfect understanding, such as Annas, Ophelias, Emmas, and Juliets?

Might we as well draw the night around us and find solace there and a friend in our own voice?

Could one do worse than be a collector of boxes?