Boot and Pointy Boots
1a maj 2013
1. Write a summary of Are You Ready, Boots? in about 150 words.
2. Characterize the main character.
3. Comment on the role of the men in the short story.
4. In a short essay (150-200 words) discuss to what extent it is fair to judge other people's choice of clothes.
Text
From Are You Ready, Boots?, a short story by Maggie Alderson. Ladies 'Night, HarperCollins Publishers,
2005.
Maggie Alderson
Are You Ready, Boots?
"Dang diddy dang diddy dang diddy dang ... " I sang to myself as I zipped the boot up to my knee, the soft black leather stretching to hug my calf. I got up and looked at myself in the full-length mirror.
"Nancy Sinatra' eat your heart out," I said to my reflection. "These boots were made
5 for me."
I couldn't believe my luck. Not only were these killer boots 50% off in the Barneys shoe department sale, they were even my size. And they weren't just boots — they were actual Manolos2. Here I was in New York City, shopping just like Carrie'. Sex was the word for it — and for these very high-heeled, very black, very pointy boots.
10 Boots so high and black and pointy indeed, that all I could do after admiring myself in the mirror was to turn round to my pal Spencer and growl.
"Grrrrrrrr," I said, copping4 a vamp pose with my booted leg forward, my teeth bared.
"Good Lord in the foothills, Miss Lulu," said Spencer, in his hilarious southern accent — real: he had come to New York from Charleston when he was seventeen. "You
15 are such a true minx in those boots, I swear I am quite afraid of you"
Now totally overexcited — Spencer always had that effect on me, not unassisted by the second bottle of Cristal he had insisted on ordering for us at lunch — I asked the nearest sales assistant for the other boot.
I zipped it on and set off stalking up and down the shoe department, working those
20 heels like RuPau15.
"These boots were made for strutting," I sang to Spencer.
"Yes, ma'am," he agreed. "So why don't you
1. Write a summary of Are You Ready, Boots? in about 150 words.
2. Characterize the main character.
3. Comment on the role of the men in the short story.
4. In a short essay (150-200 words) discuss to what extent it is fair to judge other people's choice of clothes.
Text
From Are You Ready, Boots?, a short story by Maggie Alderson. Ladies 'Night, HarperCollins Publishers,
2005.
Maggie Alderson
Are You Ready, Boots?
"Dang diddy dang diddy dang diddy dang ... " I sang to myself as I zipped the boot up to my knee, the soft black leather stretching to hug my calf. I got up and looked at myself in the full-length mirror.
"Nancy Sinatra' eat your heart out," I said to my reflection. "These boots were made
5 for me."
I couldn't believe my luck. Not only were these killer boots 50% off in the Barneys shoe department sale, they were even my size. And they weren't just boots — they were actual Manolos2. Here I was in New York City, shopping just like Carrie'. Sex was the word for it — and for these very high-heeled, very black, very pointy boots.
10 Boots so high and black and pointy indeed, that all I could do after admiring myself in the mirror was to turn round to my pal Spencer and growl.
"Grrrrrrrr," I said, copping4 a vamp pose with my booted leg forward, my teeth bared.
"Good Lord in the foothills, Miss Lulu," said Spencer, in his hilarious southern accent — real: he had come to New York from Charleston when he was seventeen. "You
15 are such a true minx in those boots, I swear I am quite afraid of you"
Now totally overexcited — Spencer always had that effect on me, not unassisted by the second bottle of Cristal he had insisted on ordering for us at lunch — I asked the nearest sales assistant for the other boot.
I zipped it on and set off stalking up and down the shoe department, working those
20 heels like RuPau15.
"These boots were made for strutting," I sang to Spencer.
"Yes, ma'am," he agreed. "So why don't you