by William Steig

Questions for Philosophical Discussion
by Marielle L. Amrhein
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Pink thinks that Yellow's form is admirable, and so he thinks that someone must have made them.

1. What are some examples of things that are made and have a maker? (eg. my grandfather made my old bed).
2. Can something exist without being made? Give an example.
3. Do you think that someone made you? Why or why not?
4. Do you have to be there when you get made? Would this mean that you would know your maker?

Yellow thinks that they were just an accident - that they somehow just happened.

1. Can you think of something that has happened to you "by accident?"
2. Give some examples of things that are accidents and things that are not
   accidents.
3. Can something just happen without a cause? Does that make it an accident?
4. How can you tell if something is an accident?
   

Pink accepts Yellows explanation for how one of them came to be, but he doesn't understand how the same series of accidents could happen twice.

1. If the same accident occurs more than once, is it still an accident? Even if you know the outcome?
2. Does it make a difference if the two accidents happen over a long period of time?
3. Does a longer period of time mean that there is more of a possibility for the same thing to happen more than once?

Yellow and Pink wonder about what caused them, and they use the world around them to try and understand this.

1. Do you think that there was a specific cause that made the world itself start existing?
2. Do you think that the whole world could have happened by accident?
3. Do you think that God played a role in the worlds existence? How? Why or why not?
   
   
   

Yellow imagines all sorts of unusual things that could have happened over a long time. He even thinks of things that don't really exist.

1. What kinds of things can you imagine?
2. Do you think that things in your imagination exist in reality? Explain.
3. How do you know if something exists or not ?
   

Pink wants to know why he and Yellow are so different if they happened to come to be in the same manner.

1. How are you different from you brothers and sisters? your parents? your cousins? your friends?
2. What is it that makes us different from other humans?
3. What makes us different from other non-humans?
   
   
   

A man comes over and picks up Pink and Yellow and takes them back to where they came from. Yellow and Pink do not know this man.

1. Who do you think this man is? How do you know?
2. Do you think that the man can hear Yellow and Pink talking? Why or why not?
3. Is the man more "real" than Yellow and Pink?
4. Do you think Yellow's explanation of how they were made is true? Explain.

The man that picks up Yellow and Pink is the man who made them in the story.

1. The man made Yellow and Pink, but how do you think the man himself was made?
2. Do you think that there is a way for something or someone to have the ability to create humans?

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