Sometimes the best way to see how a story fits into or breaks away from convention is to compare it to another story—one that its more comfortably within the guidelines of a genre.
Use the questions below to compare and contrast “The Passage” and “Steeled”. The questions will ask you to think about how the two stories are structured, the magical elements they contain, and the effect that each story is likely to have on readers. Answer each question in your own words. Then compare your answer to the sample answers at the end of the activity.
In Jeff Martin’s other story, “The Passage,” one character can bend spoons with her mind. While this talent is unlikely, it doesn’t seem completely out of the realm of possibility. What special ability appears in “Steeled”? Is this “talent” within the realm of possibility?
In “The Passage,” when the other characters learn than Andi can bend spoons with her mind, they are impressed but not surprised. How do the characters in “Steeled” react to the father’s special ability?
Given the characters’ attitude toward the practice of eating car parts, what feelings are readers encouraged to associate with the father’s “magical” ability? How is it different from the attitude toward Andi’s gift for bending spoons?
What does the eating of a car probably symbolize in the story? Why does the narrator’s father do it, and how are readers supposed to think about it by the end?
How is the plot of “Steeled” like a dream? What are its illogical, unconscious elements?
What effect did the magical elements and storyline of “Steeled” have on you as a reader?
How does the author’s treatment of the father’s bizarre practice affect readers’ understanding of the story?
| Your Responses | Sample Answers |
|---|---|
| The narrator’s father eats cars, which are made of metal. The ability to eat something as inedible as a car indicates a clear break from reality. | |
| The narrator and his mother don’t seem to question the talent the father has, but it clearly makes them both uncomfortable—it is often a source of tension between the mother and the father. Also, they try to hide it from the neighbors, and they don’t want the narrator to pick up the habit as well. | |
| The father’s practice of eating cars is a source of shame—something to be hidden from others and discouraged in his son. | |
| Eating the car seems to be something that the father does when he has done something wrong—something that he regrets or feels ashamed of. In this sense, the bizarre practice may symbolize a type of penance, or a way of relieving guilt. The dual meaning of the title “Steeled” reinforces this meaning: used as a verb, to “steel” oneself means to resolve firmly to face something difficult. | |
| Two of the characters—first the father and then the son—eat something that gives them no nutrition or pleasure when they have done something wrong. In a dream, eating the car would symbolize guilt and repentance. | |
| Many readers will feel a sense of unease or discomfort as they read about characters dutifully eating car parts—especially since the practice also makes the story’s characters uneasy, though for a different reason. | |
| Since there is no real explanation offered for the father’s behavior, most readers will begin trying to assign some sort of symbolic meaning to that single illogical detail. | |
