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Discussion Questions
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The Eyre Affair
1. If you could jump right into any novel with Ms. Nakajima, which novel would you choose to visit? What classic novel endings have left you unsatisfied? What endings would you change if you had the power to do so?2. Acheron Hades claims that pure evil is as rare as pure good. Do you think either exists in our world?
3. Two of the main plot devices—time travel and book jumping—illustrate the infinite possibilities of alternate endings. If you could travel through time, is there anything in history, either in the broad sense or in your own personal history, that you would go back and revise?
4. If you could choose Ms. Nakajima's ability to jump into novels, Thursday's father's ability to travel through time, or Acheron Hades' ability to defy mortality, which power would you choose to have and why?
5. Despite the fact that he is her one true love, Thursday holds a grudge against Landen Parke-Laine for over ten years because he betrayed her brother when they returned from the Crimean War. Whom do you think Thursday's first allegiance should have been to, her lover or her brother? Do you think her decision to return to Landen comes out of weakness or strength?
6. In the hands of villains like Jack Schitt and Acheron Hades, the Prose Portal could be exploited for villainous deeds, but it could also have been used to do good deeds such as producing a cure for terminal diseases. Would you choose to destroy the Prose Portal as Mycroft does without trying to extract good use out of it first? Do you think the risk of the destruction it could cause outweighs the possibilities for good?
7. Thursday's brother, the very Irreverend Joffy, tells her, "The first casualty of war is always truth." Do you think this is true? Why or why not?
8. Thursday says, "All my life I have felt destiny tugging at my sleeve. Few of us have any real idea what it is we are here to do and when it is that we are to do it. Every small act has a knock-on consequence that goes on to affect those about us in unseen ways. I was lucky that I had so clear a purpose." In a world where time is so pliable, can there be such a thing as destiny? Was there a defining moment in your life when you understood what your own purpose was?
9. Who is the worse villain, Acheron Hades or Jack Schitt? Which sentence do you think is worse—death by a silver bullet to the heart or an eternity trapped in Poe's "The Raven"?
HMWK: Read to Ch. 9 in The Eyre Affair
1. Ordinary is just your average Jane or Joe. They have responsibilities, fun and take orders. Everyone has pain hat hey have to deal with. What sets the ordinary apart from the extra ordinary is how they handle it. The ones that can keep a smile on their face, smile at everyone they talk to and keep their voice perfectly pleasant, no matter what happens; those are the people I find extraordinary.
ReplyDelete2. Flowers are associated with the death of the bird for Virginia; with Clarrissa, a conventional, happy domesticity that she likes. For Clarrissa, the flowers are a lovely thing and signify pleasant mood; for Virginia it is a restful and funeral like blackness.
3. Richard wasn’t technically insane however he was suicidal. Laura found that the life she was in was never what she wanted; she was restless with the need to break free. Virginia was what modern day would label “insane.” I do believe, she had a mental disorder like schizophrenia. Society is weird in their distinctions of what disorder makes you insane; certain milder ones, like depression, don’t seem to be one that do.
4. The way that all of three of them ended up being mothers n wives shows that although society will change some restrictions, there are still expectations of what women should be. Society has become accepting of being gay or lesbian, but some still say that “women belong in the kitchen.”
5. The feeling of detachment that the characters express is universal. It feels as if you are watching yourself in a movie and it’s all make believe. Its’ weird and can happen randomly. Laura refused to play the role of mother that she accepted and had to pay with not seeing her kids grow up.
6. Virginia shares an “innocent” kiss with Vanessa behind nelly’s back. Kitty kisses Laura, whom she also is attracted to, alongside Dan. Richard kisses Clarrissa when they are young; it was when they were young and after it they went separate ways.
7. Virginia almost indecently devises ways to edit Mrs. Dalloway. Richard doesn’t edit his work but you hear opinions on his writings. Laura makes two cakes because kitty called the first one “cute.” She put two layer of icing instead of one, the second time. Clarissa invites new people and goes to get the flowers.
8. Richard was abandoned by his mother, Laura. It is possible that that was part of the reason he became gay. His mother could have had so much of his trust that it shattered him, causing too much damage for him to trust another woman so wholly. His nickname for Clarrissa could also be an indication of her reminding him of the book his mother used to read; or even what Laura was like at the time. The trauma most likely also contributed to Richards’s depression and his other mental issues.
ReplyDelete9. Laura keeps her self-hidden from every one portraying herself as a loving mother and wife. She played the part until it drove her mad and left. Sometimes we have to give up what we want and play a part as a character to get through life; it makes a very unhappy person but you get through it.
10. Our egos protect us as humans. Our self-esteem is a little bit different; it’s how you value yourself. Our ego is hat boastful part of ourselves that compliments us a little when our self-esteem tears us down.
11. When we are older, we review our past choices, and most of us will obsess over the could-have-been. It’s something that happens as we grow. We learn what we did right and wrong in our youth. The choices that we make define us so it’s natural to wonder how the other choice would have made us different.
12. I think like every other middle aged person, for the characters roughly fifties, carries more baggage then they did when they were young. It’s natural to have more wisdom from your experiences and to have them scar you, physically and emotionally. They most likely also look older, wrinkles, lose skin, gray hair, and so on. Richard strained against this choice most because he felt as if he didn’t accomplish what he wanted.
13. For those who wanted to die, it represented a way out, a way to get away from whatever they couldn’t handle any more but couldn’t leave. Sometimes the pain of living is stronger then the fear of death. You can tell who’s a survivor because you see them struggle to hold on. The survivors, like Laura, are those who consider suicide and decide they have something to live for; a reason why they shouldn’t die. Other survivors just can’t even think about doing something that selfish.
14. I have not read Mrs. Dalloway.
15. It switches the roles you would expect for their personalities to be played. The gender bending makes it so that he situation are at times flipped from what we would expect. The effect of not necessarily changing the personalities with the genders makes us question the feminity and masculinity of the characters. It shows that men can be feminine and females can be masculine; which can effect who we are, like Louis.
16. It was appropriate because all the characters, suicides and survivals alike, realize that even if they make it through the next hour, there’s another hour after that. Like Richard said the only way to end it is death; for someone on the verge of suicide, the hours seem infinite, which is why the titles fitting. The hours mean more pain, more pills and closer to death for Richard; more work, child care, pregnancy, more responsibilities to Laura. For Clarrissa, the hours are just life stretching on and something she must do.
8. Richard was abandoned by his mother, Laura. It is possible that that was part of the reason he became gay. His mother could have had so much of his trust that it shattered him, causing too much damage for him to trust another woman so wholly. His nickname for Clarrissa could also be an indication of her reminding him of the book his mother used to read; or even what Laura was like at the time. The trauma most likely also contributed to Richards’s depression and his other mental issues.
ReplyDelete9. Laura keeps her self-hidden from every one portraying herself as a loving mother and wife. She played the part until it drove her mad and left. Sometimes we have to give up what we want and play a part as a character to get through life; it makes a very unhappy person but you get through it.
10. Our egos protect us as humans. Our self-esteem is a little bit different; it’s how you value yourself. Our ego is hat boastful part of ourselves that compliments us a little when our self-esteem tears us down.
11. When we are older, we review our past choices, and most of us will obsess over the could-have-been. It’s something that happens as we grow. We learn what we did right and wrong in our youth. The choices that we make define us so it’s natural to wonder how the other choice would have made us different.
12. I think like every other middle aged person, for the characters roughly fifties, carries more baggage then they did when they were young. It’s natural to have more wisdom from your experiences and to have them scar you, physically and emotionally. They most likely also look older, wrinkles, lose skin, gray hair, and so on. Richard strained against this choice most because he felt as if he didn’t accomplish what he wanted.
13. For those who wanted to die, it represented a way out, a way to get away from whatever they couldn’t handle any more but couldn’t leave. Sometimes the pain of living is stronger then the fear of death. You can tell who’s a survivor because you see them struggle to hold on. The survivors, like Laura, are those who consider suicide and decide they have something to live for; a reason why they shouldn’t die. Other survivors just can’t even think about doing something that selfish.
14. I have not read Mrs. Dalloway.
15. It switches the roles you would expect for their personalities to be played. The gender bending makes it so that he situation are at times flipped from what we would expect. The effect of not necessarily changing the personalities with the genders makes us question the feminity and masculinity of the characters. It shows that men can be feminine and females can be masculine; which can effect who we are, like Louis.
16. It was appropriate because all the characters, suicides and survivals alike, realize that even if they make it through the next hour, there’s another hour after that. Like Richard said the only way to end it is death; for someone on the verge of suicide, the hours seem infinite, which is why the titles fitting. The hours mean more pain, more pills and closer to death for Richard; more work, child care, pregnancy, more responsibilities to Laura. For Clarrissa, the hours are just life stretching on and something she must do.
1. Ordinary is just your average Jane or Joe. They have responsibilities, fun and take orders. Everyone has pain hat hey have to deal with. What sets the ordinary apart from the extra ordinary is how they handle it. The ones that can keep a smile on their face, smile at everyone they talk to and keep their voice perfectly pleasant, no matter what happens; those are the people I find extraordinary.
ReplyDelete2. Flowers are associated with the death of the bird for Virginia; with Clarrissa, a conventional, happy domesticity that she likes. For Clarrissa, the flowers are a lovely thing and signify pleasant mood; for Virginia it is a restful and funeral like blackness.
3. Richard wasn’t technically insane however he was suicidal. Laura found that the life she was in was never what she wanted; she was restless with the need to break free. Virginia was what modern day would label “insane.” I do believe, she had a mental disorder like schizophrenia. Society is weird in their distinctions of what disorder makes you insane; certain milder ones, like depression, don’t seem to be one that do.
4. The way that all of three of them ended up being mothers n wives shows that although society will change some restrictions, there are still expectations of what women should be. Society has become accepting of being gay or lesbian, but some still say that “women belong in the kitchen.”
5. The feeling of detachment that the characters express is universal. It feels as if you are watching yourself in a movie and it’s all make believe. Its’ weird and can happen randomly. Laura refused to play the role of mother that she accepted and had to pay with not seeing her kids grow up.
6. Virginia shares an “innocent” kiss with Vanessa behind nelly’s back. Kitty kisses Laura, whom she also is attracted to, alongside Dan. Richard kisses Clarrissa when they are young; it was when they were young and after it they went separate ways.
7. Virginia almost indecently devises ways to edit Mrs. Dalloway. Richard doesn’t edit his work but you hear opinions on his writings. Laura makes two cakes because kitty called the first one “cute.” She put two layer of icing instead of one, the second time. Clarissa invites new people and goes to get the flowers.