LITERATURE I: SAMPLE OPENING PARAGRAPH FOR LEWIS NORDAN’S “GET WELL SOON”

Alice Conroy, the main character in Lewis Nordan’s “Get Well Soon,” is a new fourth-grade teacher in small-town Arrow Catcher, Mississippi. Recently graduated from college, as well as from an adulterous affair with a professor named Dr. Dust, she attempts naively to guide her class through dealing with the absence of an injured classmate, Glenn Gregg, by having students create “Get Well Soon” cards. Along with the students, she plans to deliver these cards to Glenn Gregg’s house, but when she does, the event does not turn out as planned. Her naïve view of the world—one where love has “great pain” but is nevertheless “worth it”—is devoured by a reality where love has been pushed to its ultimate pain. Glenn Gregg, out of love for his mother, has attempted to kill his father in a fire but is horribly burned himself and will likely never recover. The story shows Alice moving from her naïve nature into the shocking realization that “we are, all of us, alone.”