Essay Questions

How does the author depict the sense of smell in the “New York Trilogy?”

The author is using Mrs. Virginia Stillman to depict the sense of smell to the reader. As Quinn gets to Peter’s office, Mrs. Virginia welcomes him. As he waits, his attention is directed to her and the way she smells. She is meticulously dressed with strong perfume, which confuses the narrator. He even creates an image of her when she is naked. In his thinking, he is wondering how long God took to create her. Perhaps, he starts to contemplate that she resembles the work of Max. He writes:

“The smell of Virginia Stillman’s perfume hovered around him, and he began to imagine what she looked like without any clothes on. Then he thought about what Max Work might have been thinking, had he been there. He decided to light a cigarette.”

Briefly explain this statement: “Such is my laughter now, my belly burst of mumbo jumbo. Ha ha ha. Big father said: it makes no difference. To me. That is to say, to him. Big father of the big muscles and the boom, boom, boom.”

The author is trying depicting the sense of hearing to the reader. In the statement, it is evident that there is sound “Ha, Ha, Ha” and “boom, boom, boom” which trigger the sense of hearing to the reader. He writes:

“Such is my laughter now, my belly burst of mumbo jumbo. Ha ha ha. Big father said: it makes no difference. To me. That is to say, to him. Big father of the big muscles and the boom, boom, boom.”

The reader is able to form an image of what is happening between the conversing individuals and this helps him to focus and have the urge of reading more to uncover what is happening on the next page.

Mr. Quinn is confused about what clothing to wear. How does he overcome his fears?

As he tries to dress for the anticipated meeting with Mr. Peter, Mr. Quinn starts to remember the last time he wore a suit. He starts to reflect and discovers that the last time he put on a suit and a tie is when the wife and son died. The thoughts of his loss leads to his confusion. Additionally, meeting Mr. Peter is another thing that makes him nervous. They have never met before and this makes him anxious. He wants to look smart and at the same time not too official. That is why he decides to wear a grey shirt as opposed to the white one. When he recollects himself, he overcomes his fears, puts on a grey shirt and grey shirt and then heads to meet Peter Stillman.