“Days of Grace. A Memoir” Chapter Two: Middle Passage(1/2)

Study Guide: Days of Grace. A Memoir

III. Chapter Two: Middle Passage

A. General Comprehension

Answer these questions in complete sentences.

When did Arthur Ashe know that his career as a competitive tennis player was over? What circumstances led to this realization?

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What did Ashe see in Dutch painter Rembrandt’s works on display in the Rijksmuseum? What knowledge about Rembrandt’s life and his most revered paintings confirmed Ashe’s belief in the “therapeutic value of adversity” (40)?
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Why does Ashe compare professional athletes to the minstrels or jongleurs of the Middle Ages? Given the transition he was experiencing as he was “negotiat[ing] the middle passage between the old and new” (42), how did this reference to the “clownish roles of tennis players and other athletes” (43) explain the new direction that he wanted to take in his life? Why was this responsibility natural for him based on his upbringing?
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How does Ashe explain what is unusual about an athlete’s retirement?

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What tribute does Ashe pay to his father’s work ethic? Type Here
When deliberating on the course he wanted his retirement to take, why does Ashe refer to Bill Bradley, Paul Robeson, Byron Whipper White, Jackie Robinson? How does his desire to “make a difference … in a useful and honorable way” (46-47) connect with his etymological analysis of the word philanthropy (48)?
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How does Ashe explain the difference between Daniel Levinson and Sigmund Freud’s views of an individual’s childhood? What are the stages of a person’s life according to Daniel Levinson, in The Seasons of a Man’s Life? Take notes on the “tensions” existing between each of the Four Polarities:

a. Young vs. Old
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b.Destruction vs. Creation
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c. Masculine vs. Feminine
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d. Attachment vs. Separateness
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What are Ashe’s thoughts about feeling and reflection … during an athlete’s career; during an athlete’s retirement? Why did he decide to seek the advice of Dr. Aaron at the beginning of his retirement?
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Where and when did Arthur Ashe meet his wife Jeanne? When did they get married? Type Here
Who was the Andrew Young who married Arthur and Jeanne, and what did he mean by the “six people he was marrying”(56)?

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What losses did both Jeanne and Arthur suffer during the first years of their marriage?

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How does Arthur describe his wife? What are her professional qualifications? How does he believe his life would have been like if he had taken her “out of the equation” (61)?

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What reservations did the Ashes have about having a child? When was their daughter Camera born? Why did they feel blessed about her birth? What do they take for granted about Camera’s life?

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The Book-Of-The-Semester Project 2007 - 2008

Study Guide: Days of Grace. A Memoir