Discussion Questions for The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

 

Discussion Questions for The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

1) Do you think The Handmaid’s Tale needed a sequel? Were your questions answered by the end of the novel, or do you have even more?

2) Did The Testaments change your perception of Aunt Lydia? Why or why not?

3) Even though Gilead seems to allude to having a lot of the same technology as the rest of the world, unbabies, deaths during childbirth, and other fatal/serious ailments seem to be the norm there. Why do you think this is?

4) When Nicole and Agnes are travelling to Canada, Nicole says “Just because people are related to you doesn’t mean you love them.” Agnes replies “Love is like a discipline, like prayer.” How have the girls’ upbringings developed their perception of what love is?

5) Why do you think Atwood called the novel The Testaments?

6) Of all the groups of women in Gilead, who do you think has the most “freedom”?

7) Men are not portrayed very favorably in The Testaments. Are there any male characters who have redeeming features? Is it possible to be a man in Gilead and NOT be a bad person?

8) The novel has multiple narrators. How does this format help you to understand the story in different ways? How effective did you find the narration to be?

The Mirror and the Light- discussion questions

 BOOKCLUB QUESTIONS 

• Thomas Cromwell is now in his fi fties, ‘the same small quick eyes, the same thickset imperturbable body; the same schedules.’ But to what extent is he a different man to the one we know from Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies? How has his character developed? 

• Discuss Hilary Mantel’s use of the present tense in The Mirror & the Light. She allows us to follow her characters in real time as they make decisions the consequences of which they cannot be sure. Does this change how we think of history? 

• What echoes are there in The Mirror & the Light of contemporary politics and Britain’s relationship with Europe? To what extent is Thomas Cromwell a thoroughly European character? MRG.indd 15 RG.indd 15 24/02/2020 11:05 4/02/2020 11:05 The Mirror & The Light 16 

• ‘The burden of kingship,’ Henry says, ‘no man can imagine it. All my life, to be a prince: to be observed to be a prince; all eyes to be set on me; to be an exemplar of virtue … to unmake myself as a man in order to make myself as a king.’ What picture does Hilary Mantel paint of Henry VIII, as a man and as a king? Consider the trajectory of his relationship with Thomas Cromwell. 

• Consider Cromwell as a father and as a son. And the paternal relationships he develops. 

• The Mirror & the Light’s cast of characters includes those who have died in the course of the previous two novels. Consider the role of ghosts in the novel. 

• Discuss the relationship of men and women. Do the female characters have power? How familiar are the gender inequalities to the world we live in now? 

• From the descriptions of Henry’s leg wound, to the river Thames which fl ows through the story, The Mirror & the Light is carefully and vividly drawn. Consider the use of texture and physicality in the novel. How successfully does Hilary Mantel paint a picture of 1540s London? 

• Is Thomas Cromwell’s downfall inevitable? When and how does he become conscious of the fate that awaits him? How does Cromwell react to his own de

Questions for David and Goliath Discussion

  Questions for David and Goliath Discussion 

1.  What anecdotes from your own life might you reference as support or challenge of “Part I: The Advantage of Disadvantages?” Consider specifically the chapter titled “Teresa DeBrito: ‘My largest class was twenty-nine kids. Oh, it was fun’” and your own experiences with class size. 
2.  Chapter Three (“Caroline Sachs: ‘If I’d gone to the University of Maryland, I’d still be in science’”) is particularly relevant as you explore your college options (and is one that you might enjoy revisiting via YouTube, as Malcolm Gladwell presents it as a TED talk). What considerations does this chapter raise for you? What questions might you want to ask of students and college admissions officers when you visit and tour schools? 
3. Drawing on your own life experience or from your study of history, what illustrations might you offer in support or challenge of “the theory of desirable difficulty” as presented in “Part II: The Theory of Desirable Difficulty”? 
4.  What, for you, is the take-away from “Part III: The Limits of Power”? 
5.  Malcolm Gladwell has been both praised and criticized for his use of anecdote in his social science observations. Which anecdotes resonate with you, and why? Which anecdotes do you find less convincing, and why?

Questions for The Great Believers

 Questions: The Great Believers

1. Yale’s group of friends is very close. In a sense, they are his “chosen family.” How is this explored in the book? Do you have a “chosen family,” and if so, what brings you all together?

2. How has the culture changed regarding LGBTQ+ voices and stories since the 1980s?

3. Chicago is such a powerful presence in this novel that it is almost a character in itself. Have you ever been to or lived in a place that exerted a strong influence on you?

4. Nora, the elderly woman donating the 1920s pieces, seems completely removed from the rest of Yale’s life, yet her story contains elements that can be compared and contrasted with Yale’s. What similarities between his and her life are there? How has her past affected the present?

5. Fiona has suffered many losses in her life. How do you think that affected her as a mother? What are the ways in which trauma and loss are passed down through generations?

6. Do you empathize more with Fiona or Claire?

7. Do you see any parallels between the state of healthcare during the 1980s and now?

8. What has been your knowledge of—or experience with, if any—AIDS or those affected by the disease?

9. Has reading this novel changed any ideas you have previously had about the subject?