Questions for papers!

Dear students,
So far you must all have read both stories more than once and you must have gathered information on the stories and their context as well as notes on the most relevant aspects you have found in them. Now set out to write your analysis, which you must hand in in a month from now.

For all questions: answer, argue, explain, support, and conclude.
“The stone cipher”- Tony Pi / ”By the waters of the Ganga”- Stephen Gaskell

1.- Taking into account the definition of “Reality” handled and discussed in our literature courses, how do both stories manage to represent reality? Which reality does the story show? How does the author (in each case) deal with such reality? How do reality IN the story and reality OUTSIDE the story relate to one another? Does he simply describe or does he make a statement? Is there any criticism involved? If so, which?
2.- These stories can be placed in the realms of Fantasy and/or Science Fiction for obvious reasons (future events, technological advance, unbelievable/unusual characters, settings, etc). How is language used to set the tone and making the plot “acceptable” to the reader?
3.- Consider the way each character is presented in each story. Could we see them as stereotypes/archetypes? To what extent are the main characters in the stories similar/different in their attitudes towards their lives? How do both characters manage to reflect their ways of life through their ways of living, relationship between personality, attitude and behaviour? How universal/Venezuelan can they be? How do these different representations of modern ordinary men created by both authors apply to current Venezuelan citizens?