Thursday, June 12, 2008

The Believer by Stephanie Black

Here are some discussion questions for The Believer by Stephanie Black. WARNING if you have not read the book, the questions contain spoilers.

1. Black creates a future where the United States has been separated without a war. Do you feel that her depiction of the reasons and nature of the separation are believable?

2. Ian Roshek is depicted as a man struggling to do the right thing in the face of impossible odds. Do you feel that Black's characterization of Ian is believable? Was he too good? Or did you feel like he struggled in a way similar to how you would struggle under similar circumstances?

3. Black's reasoning why the government of New America needed to ban religion was so that the government could have final say over what is right and wrong/good or bad. Do you agree with Black's assessment? If we do not have religion, what would determine the basis of right and wrong? Does the abolishment of religion grant more power to the government? Does the abolishment of religion weaken the minds of the citizens of a nation?

4. Does Zero really care about the security of New America or is he entirely self interested?

5. Do you agree with Black's assertion that terrorism often is self-defeating, in that it creates more power for those whom it is seeking to weaken? Examples from the real world?

6. In our current lives it may be difficult to imagine an America where freeedoms are so limited and the treatment of others so brutal, but the world has seen much worse in many other societies. What is it that keeps us from tipping over the edge into the world that Black creates? What separates us from, say, Rwanda, Khmer Rouge Cambodia, Maoist China, Nazi Germany, or Stalinist USSR?

7. How would you compare this novel to other LDS futuristic fiction?

8. Black uses futuristic fiction with LDS themes without getting embroiled in end of day prophecies, does this enhance or detract from her work?

9. Is Alisa Kent's character arc believable?

The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams

The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams is one of my favorite works of literature. In fact, I remember being completely blown away the first time I read it. That being said, here are some discussion questions for The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams:

1. This play is written in an unrealistic style. There are pictures and sayings that are supposed to be projected behind the actors onstage, and background music is written into the stage directions. Why do you think Williams makes such an effort to keep the audience aware of the presentation aspects of this work? Is Williams specifically trying to avoid a realist approach? If so, do you think a realistic approach would give more weight to Menagerie?

2. Williams has Tom, narrate Menagerie does the theatrical device of a narrator help or hinder the action in the play?

3. Tom states in his 0pening speech, "I give you truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion." What does that mean? Is Williams indicating that truth about life is easier to learn through allegory? If so is that true? What allegories have helped you understand truth?

4. Tom also states that this is a "memory play" and as such the things seen are not as they precisely happened, but as they are remembered. If that is the case, why is the play so depressing? Do our memories make the past happier or more depressing? Why would Tom's memories of the events depicted in the play be worse than they actually were?

5. The Wingfield family lives in dreams. How are each of the Wingfields' dreams different, and at the same time how do each of their dreams lead them to the same place?

6. Amanda is caught in a past that never existed, as she tells stories of her youth. Is nostalgia, heightened as it is by Amanda, a damning force in our lives, or can it be an effective motivator for the future? What is it for Amanda.

7. Laura is lost in a world of imagination, how is her world different than the world Amanda has constructed for herself? Is it more/less damning?

8. Tom is lost in a world of adventure and poetry that does not exist, but which eventually compels him to leave his home and family, how can deferred dreams destroy relationships and our lives? Clearly, we need ambition, we need dreams to move forward in our lives, without risktakers we would not make it to where we are, so what is the difference between the Wingfield's whose dreams ultimately destroy themselves, and those whose dreams compel them to greater heights?

9. Why is it important that Laura is portrayed as unique, with the symbolism of the glass unicorn and "blue roses"? Is Williams making a statement about society's treatment of those who are different? Would Laura have been happier if she had been more like everyone else, just as she tries to say the unicorn was happier after he lost his horn? Laura's uniqueness brings her sorrow, but Amanda's attempts to integrate Laura into society through secretarial school, suitors, etc. force Laura into a deeper sorrow, is Williams stating that in our present society that there really is no place where those who are truly unique can be happy because they are either ostracized or they are forced to conform?

10. It is often said that The Glass Menagerie is an autobiographical play. If that is the case, how does it change your view of Tom and his reasons for remembering his life as depicted in the play.