A Conversation with My Father

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the below bulleted outlines. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Paley’s story discusses the process of creating fiction and how fiction has an impact on the writer and the audience.

• How does metafiction influence “A Conversation with My Father”? (topic sentence)
• Identify at least 2 instances in the story that seem self-referential to the writing process, to fiction, or to the writer.
• In your concluding statement or paragraph, explain how the concept of metafiction influences “A Conversation with My Father” and connect this to the theme of How Stories Are Told.

2. Grace Paley uses allusion throughout her story, including references to other works of literature and the Bible. 

• How do these allusions impact the narrative, the story-within-the-story, or both? (topic sentence)
• Identify 2-3 allusions that Paley makes in her story.