1. Most of the stories we’ve read this semester have only one narrative filter, whether it is a major character in the story, a minor character in the story, or an omniscient third-person narrator. “Lost in the Funhouse,” however, seems to switch between several different narrative filters. Work with your group members to catalog each of the filters that you notice. How are these filters different from one another? How are they related? Does the reader gain anything from considering how they reflect on one another?
2. Throughout the story, the central image of the funhouse recurs again and again. How is navigating the funhouse like reading literature? What about writing it? What, then, is the role of the funhouse’s designer in each of these analogies?
3. Another central theme of the story is Ambrose’s sexual awakening. Why is this theme important to a story that, upon first reading at least, seems to be more about the reading and writing of fiction?
4. An important feature of this story is the meta-critical remarks that are scattered throughout. Some of these remarks seem helpful, while others clearly aim to misdirect the reader. Examine a few of these remarks closely, along with their context. How do they reflect on the action of the story’s more traditional narrative? What might Barth have been getting at with these remarks?
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