The narrator's attitudes and the events in her story-within-a-story reflect the mood of the early 1970s in the United States, particularly the issue of generational differences and the "generation gap." For example, the mother in the story wants to be part of "youth culture." Research youth culture in the 1960s and 1970s and compare your findings with the attitudes expressed by the narrator and the events recounted in her story.

Paley calls herself "a feminist and a writer " How are her feminist beliefs and concerns evident in this story?

Compare both stones within "A Conversation with My Father" with a short story by Anton Chekhov or Guy de Maupassant. How do the differences between their stories and Paley's relate to the different attitudes towards fiction expressed by the daughter and her father?

One topic of conversation within the story is tragedy Do...