Essay Questions

Why is the protagonist of the ‘Storyteller’ jailed?

The anonymous woman who is the main protagonist in the 'Storyteller' serves a jail sentence for murder. The anonymous woman killed a local storekeeper, and she is paying for her crime in jail. In the rest of the story, the reader learns more about this anonymous woman. The reader realizes that the protagonist was involved in sexual relationships with older men. Similarly, she dropped out of school and started engaging in unethical dealings and murder, which landed her in jail.

What are the wages of betrayal, according to the author?

The author depicts the protagonist as a turncoat who does not appreciate her grandmother's role in her life. The girl thinks that her grandmother is atrocious and she prefers to live with someone else. The girl is orphaned at an early age, and she is left under the care of her grandmother. Instead of staying with her grandmother until she matures, she decides to move in with an older man who lures her that he will take care of her. However, the older adult uses her for sexual satisfaction. The girl later dumps the older man for another grey-haired man who also uses her as a sex object. Later, the girl is involved in an incident that results in the storekeeper's death, and she is later is arrested and jailed. The girl is paying her sins for leaving her ailing grandmother to sleep with older men.

What is the central theme in the book 'Storyteller'?

Seclusion and tediousness emerge as the main theme in this book. The protagonist of the story is an unnamed woman who is orphaned at an early age. She is left under the care of her grandmother. She finds it boring living with her grandmother, who is ailing from arthritis. Additionally, the grandmother keeps on reminding her of the past and the death of her parents. Most of the time, the protagonist is lonely, and when she gets an opportunity to leave her grandmother, she escapes to live with an older man who sexually abuses her. The protagonist does not find a good company with an older man, and she decides to live with another man. Later, the narrator gets involved with the storekeeper. While in jail, the author portrays the protagonist as a lonely and bored woman who rarely speaks to fellow prisoners.