Podcast
Questions and Answers
In school, they taught us that beyond the gate lived strange people in vast ______, mesmerized by moving pictures and addicted to a liquid that turned them insane.
In school, they taught us that beyond the gate lived strange people in vast ______, mesmerized by moving pictures and addicted to a liquid that turned them insane.
cities
At Sunday school, the townspeople had been warned, if they ever saw a ______, to run and ring the church bells.
At Sunday school, the townspeople had been warned, if they ever saw a ______, to run and ring the church bells.
car
The narrator recalls ringing the church bells after seeing a car, but no one ran or hid; they simply ______ at her.
The narrator recalls ringing the church bells after seeing a car, but no one ran or hid; they simply ______ at her.
stared
At eighteen, the narrator's father handed her over to be ______ to James, from another family in town.
At eighteen, the narrator's father handed her over to be ______ to James, from another family in town.
The narrator describes marriage as a ______, the weight of a home, a husband, and children pressing down like shackles.
The narrator describes marriage as a ______, the weight of a home, a husband, and children pressing down like shackles.
The reverend tells the girls of the narrator's graduating class, it is your duty to be ______ and multiply.
The reverend tells the girls of the narrator's graduating class, it is your duty to be ______ and multiply.
James was always curious about the outside world, about life beyond the ______.
James was always curious about the outside world, about life beyond the ______.
According to the church, curiosity was a ______ and the people should accept that their way of life was God's will.
According to the church, curiosity was a ______ and the people should accept that their way of life was God's will.
James comes home with a small glowing block, which is a ______, saying they can use it to contact strangers and escape.
James comes home with a small glowing block, which is a ______, saying they can use it to contact strangers and escape.
The reverend's words echo in the narrator's mind as James holds open the metal gate -- 'They are ______'.
The reverend's words echo in the narrator's mind as James holds open the metal gate -- 'They are ______'.
Flashcards
The Metal Gate
The Metal Gate
Boundary between the town's world and the unknown where strange people live.
The Car
The Car
A device that outsiders use, representing a departure from the community's traditional ways.
Be Fruitful and Multiply
Be Fruitful and Multiply
The expectation of women to have children.
The Glowing Block (Phone)
The Glowing Block (Phone)
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If God loved us...?
If God loved us...?
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Unpinned hair
Unpinned hair
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Suffocating Modesty
Suffocating Modesty
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Possessed.
Possessed.
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Study Notes
- The narrator remembers being eight and playing hide and seek with her brothers when she wandered close to the metal gate.
- The metal gate is the boundary between the narrator's known world and the unknown.
- School taught that people beyond the gate lived in cities, mesmerized by moving pictures and addicted to an insane making liquid.
- One day the narrator saw a car on the desolate road; sunlight flashed on its metal body.
- The narrator sprints home and rings the church bells to warn the town that "strangers" were near.
- The townspeople do not respond how the narrator expects.
- The narrator's father asks how she could embarrass the family this way; then dragged her home.
- The dad doesn't believe the narrator saw a car and whips her after she lies.
- The narrator's mother and siblings also do not believe her account.
- For the first time, the narrator considers life beyond the gate.
- At 18, the narrator's father marries her off to James.
- The narrator sees marriage as a burden: a home, husband, and children are shackles
- Marrying James is a relief due to issues with her father.
- The narrator and James move into a brick house identical to every other in town.
- Within a year, she is pregnant; the reverend believes women should multiply.
- The narrator struggles to care and provide for daughter.
- The narrator cries because she knows her daughter's future; life of suffocating modesty, thick dresses in harsh desert heat, and hair pinned up.
- James wonders about life beyond the gate.
- James questions if those beyond the gate are all bad.
- James challenges the church's view that curiosity is a sin and questions the "miserable" life.
- James and others get opportunity to do construction work beyond the gate given.
- He arrives home with glowing block; a phone that can contact strangers.
- James hopes to escape with outside help.
- The narrator believes that involving strangers puts their family in danger.
- The narrator secretly hopes that James can find a way to get them out.
- James holds the metal gate open for her to leave; the reverent preached of possession, their inventions being works of the Devil.
- The narrator leaves with the baby.
- A man in a grey t-shirt helps them and puts their possessions in his boot.
- James encourages, stating that they are better off.
- The narrator takes a final look at the town, the sandstone church, lifeless houses, and flimsy chicken wire fence.
- As they drive off she lets her hair flow in the wind.
- She looks down at her baby and determines she is free.
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