Break of Dark | Essay & Project Ideas

Break of Dark Ideas for Reports and Papers

1. Two of the stories in Break of Dark are ghost stories. Why do the hauntings seem to occur? How does the way the hauntings are finally terminated relate to how they began? How does Westall's treatment of the phenomenon compare to other stories about hauntings you have heard or read?

2. How would you describe Westall's attitude toward supernatural occurrences in these stories? Does he make them believable? Do they seem to point to other issues, such as a belief in life after death, or the possible existence of alternate worlds or time slips?

3. Compare the ethical implications of Joan's reasons for killing the three men who wanted to rob her and the narrator with the narrator's own response to that same threat. Whose assessment do you agree with, and why?

How would you relate their different attitudes to the question of...
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