Essay Questions

How are travel and escape brought out in this anthology?

Travel both for recreational purposes as well as part of an escape is well presented in this anthology. For instance, in “Free Love,” the protagonist of the story has her sexual awakening while on a trip to Amsterdam. On the other hand, “Text for the Day” explores the escapades of Melissa who decides to leave and travel the world. Melissa becomes one of the individuals who use travel as an escape to what can be argued as freedom. In “College” we are introduced to a teenager named Alex who resorts to hitchhiking to Brighton as part of escaping her family celebrations held in Kent. Travel is a major theme in this novel.

Why do most of the characters in the short stories that make up this compilation travel?

In “Free Love,” the main character of the story travels to Amsterdam as part of a class trip. While on this trip, the character uses the opportunity to explore her sexuality. On the other hand, Alex in “College” travels to Brighton in secrecy o Brighton as a part of escaping attending family celebrations. On the other hand, the main character of the short story “Text for the Day” takes to traveling as part of the adventure, to explore the world. As part of his recovery, the major character in “The unthinkable happens to people every day,” takes to travel, a process that results in his change of perception following one of the characters that he meets. In this work, the characters travel for different reasons.

How are sexuality and relationships brought out in the anthology Free Love and Other Stories?

Sexuality as a theme is highlighted in “Free Love” where the protagonist takes and uses the freedom she receives during their class trip to Amsterdam to explore her sexuality as well as handle the repression. In “Scary,” Linda and Tom are in a love relationship with each other. Additionally, relationships in the form of friendships are also explored in this anthology. For instance, there is the relationship between two friends who bring forth the difficulties associated with having high expectations in friendship in “Jenny Robertson your friend is not coming.” Sexuality and relationships, albeit those between friends, are well explored in the novel.