A word from Hamilton’s essay that I had to look up was “henpecked.” The word is defined as browbeaten, bullied, or intimidated by one’s wife, girlfriend, etc. One part of the essay that stood out to me was the narrator’s imagery of chopping the chicken’s head. “The chicken began to thrash, its eyes open, as if chastising me for my false promises of a merciful death. My dad yelled, ‘Kill it! Kill it! Aw, Gabs, kill the fucking thing!’ from his bloodless perch. I kept coming down on the bird’s throat–which was now broken but still issuing terrible clucks–stroke after miserable stroke, until I finally got its head off.” This is when the tension is built and reaches its peak. After those sentences, the narrator was already showing signs of hesitancy and regret. This part establishes those feelings of regret because of the word choice used. The imagery was just as intense and allowed me to see it visually in my mind. My question was why the father had to yell at the narrator when she was physically anxious. Yelling at that point might not help. My discussion question: If you were in the narrator’s shoes, how would you have approached or reacted to the situation and why?