The Way We Live Now

How is the number of voices in the story significant to the story’s treatment of the effects of an AIDS diagnosis? If the story were a conversation between only two people, would it convey the same meaning and tone?

“The Way We Live Now” is set during the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s but refers only to “the disease” rather than to AIDS specifically. How does the use of euphemism allow post-2020 readers to consider the story through the lens of the COVID-19 pandemic? How does the story change if “the disease” is COVID instead of AIDS?

How do demographics impact the way different characters respond to the protagonist’s diagnosis? How do these responses reflect attitudes of various sectors of American culture?

“The Way We Live Now” is written in stream of consciousness. There is no use of quotation marks to indicate speech, and transitions from one speaker to another are not always tagged. How does this stylistic choice impact the story’s effect and pacing?

In the story’s setting, the characters share information verbally, either on the phone or in person. How does this mode of communication impact the plot and style of the story? How would the story change if modern textual communication (text, emails, social media) were available?

What is the role of hope in the story? What do the characters hope for? Are their hopes the same? Are they realistic?

How would the story be different if the protagonist were Hilda’s 75-year-old aunt, who is “dying of the disease, which she’d contracted from a transfusion given during her successful double bypass of five years ago” (Paragraph 13)? Does the patient’s status as a gay man impact the narrative?

The protagonist begins keeping a diary during his initial hospital stay. Consider his writing habits: How might excerpts from his diary impact the development of the story? What do you think he writes? Why doesn’t Sontag include his thoughts in the story?