Comprehension questions for class discussion

? Comprehension questions.

1. In what sense is the word “art” used in the title? 2. How does Demarest begin his essay? Is it an effective beginning?

3. Why does Demarest refer to the visits to barbershop, dentist or doctor as “Faustian encounters”? 4. How do you understand “blessedly” in Para.4? 5. The first sentence in Para.5 is a distortion of the proverb: where there’s a will, there’s a way. Can you explain the distorted one?

6. Can you illustrate with one or two examples what Dr. Greenson says “To many people, doing something is the moment of truth. All frightened people will then avoid the moment of truth entirely, or evade or postpone it until the last possible moment.”? 7. The

subject

matter

in

this

essay

is

serious—procrastination. Yet the tone of Demarest’s writing is a mixture of the serious and the humorous. Can you identify his shifts in tone from one to the other? 8.

The serious 1. 2. 3. 4.

The humorous