There are two parts to this week's assignment:
1. Summarize the story "Sea Oak." Remember that a summary is when you condense the subject
and main points of a text using your own words. Try to give a complete summary of the story -
What is it about? What happens? Who are the characters?
2. Answer one of the following critical thinking questions about the stories in Pastoralia:
• What are some similarities about the workplaces in the stories "Pastoralia" and "Sea Oak"?
Explain with examples.
What are some similarities between the characters in the stories "Pastoralia," "Winky," "The
Barber's Unhappiness," and "Sea Oak"? Explain with examples.
Describe the humor in these stories. How does Saunders make these dark and depressing
stories comedic? Explain with examples.

The story "Sea Oak" by George Saunders is the story about Joysticks who works at a restaurant. He stays in Sea Oak, which is an apartment complex, with his aunt, sister, cousin and their babies.

There is no sea and no oak in the story but it is an apartment which is names Sea Oak. The narrator has a sweet and quite optimistic 'Aunt Bernie' who dies but to everyone's shock, she returns. Then, she behaves bitter and profane. She wants the family to shift to a new apartment. The story has good humor and there are even jokes on the characters of the story.

The similarities between the stories "Pastoralia" and "Sea Oak" is that both the stories are about the places near the sea. In Pastrolia, Janet works both as a cave man and a cave woman in an amusement park. Sea oak is story about an aunt who returns back after dying and wants her family to get rid of their neighbors.