Amelia Bedelia — Chapter 1

Narration Prompt

Summarize the chapter and identify the central tension.

Discussion Questions

1. Peggy Parish stages a comic demonstration of meaning-by-use. Wittgenstein's central insight in Philosophical Investigations is that words mean what they do in practice. Is the book a small Wittgensteinian fable, or has Parish stumbled into the same observation by writing through the comedy of literalism?
2. Mrs. Rogers accommodates Amelia by learning to speak her way. The flexible speaker takes on the translation work. Is Parish making a small claim about what hospitality across difference actually requires?

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