Questions for Caren
Recall the last 3 paragraphs of ?Questions for Caren.? Juliet’s questions – both those in her head and those she wrote down – including the following:
I knew that our friendship, our passion, had been real. So why did race matter? More specifically, why did race end up mattering to her, but not to me? Why did it have to matter? I turned the word "freedom" over in my mind. Did Caren and I have different degrees of freedom in the world? Freedom from what, or for what? Freedom to choose our friends? To ignore a difference in skin color? . . . Why did you choose? . . . Why did you feel like you had to choose? . . . (44)
What do these questions indicate about women’s friendships that cross races and the difficulties they face?
Have you ever had to face and answer these sorts of questions? What are the answers?
Do you have friendships that cross boundaries of "difference" – i.e. race, ethnicity, sexuality, ability, class, age, etc.? Have these differences ever posed challenges to your friendship? In what ways? Are there ways in which these differences have enhanced your friendship?Explain.
If you do not have friendships with others who are in some way "different" from you, why do you think that is?
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Reading:
Juliet Eastland, ?Questions for Caren,? Secrets & Confidences, 37-45.