Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

When young Jane Eyre's parents die of disease, her kind uncle, Mr. Reed, takes her in and promises to raise her as his own. However, when he passes away as well, his wife shows that she does not feel the same way about Jane. Jane goes through her childhood unfairly being cruelly treated by her aunt and three cousins and never feels like she fits in or is respected. Even the maids disrespect her saying, "Yes, if she were a nice, pretty child, one might compassionate her forlornness; but one really cannot care for such a little toad as that" (Bronte 22). One day when her cousin bullied her for no reason, her aunt believed she was lying and sent her to be punished in the "red room" where her Uncle Reed had died. She believes she sees her uncle's ghost while in there and faints in exhaustion and fear. When she awakens, she is happy to find that her aunt has agreed to send her to school. However, once she gets there she is disappointed. At Lowood School, headmaster Brocklehurst does not treat Jane still with the respect she deserves. When Mrs. Reed was talking to Brocklehurst about getting Jane into the school, she explained to him, "...this little girl has not quite the character and disposition I could wish: should you admit her into Lowood school, I should be glad if the superintendent and teachers were requested to keep a strict eye on her, and about all, to guard against her worst fault, a tendency to deceit" (Bronte 30). He tells everyone that Jane is a liar at her school and she is shunned. Jane does manage to make one good friend, Helen, who is the ideal Christian. Unlike Brocklehurst who says one thing and then does another, Helen truly lives up to the standards expected of her. Many children get sick while in school, and Helen ends up dying of consumption. When others find out about Brocklehurst's mistreatment of the children, he is replaced. Jane stays at Lowood to teach for a few years. When Jane is ready for a new pace, she accepts a governess position at Thornfield manor and teaches a young French girl named Adele. Here, Jane secretly falls in love with her employer, Rochester. She even saves him from a house fire which was supposedly started by his drunken servant Grace Poole. However, Poole continues with her job, so Jane knows that there must be more to the story. Jane is upset when Rochester brings home a beautiful woman, but he ends up proposing to Jane. On the wedding day she finds out that he had already been married to a woman that is locked up on the third story because she had gone insane and that he had hired Poole to keep her under control. She leaves Rochester and is taken in by the Rivers family where St. John Rivers finds her a new job. He finds out that they are cousins and that their uncle John Eyre left her a large sum of money when he died. When St. John decides to go to India as a missionary, he asks Jane to go with him as his wife. Jane decides she doesn't love him so she doesn't marry him. When Jane goes back to Thornfield, she finds that the house had burnt down with Rochester's wife in it. Rochester lost his eyesight and one of his hands from the fire, but Jane agreed when he proposed to her again. At the end of the novel, Jane writes that she is happily married with a son and that her and Rochester enjoy perfect equality in their life together.

1) Jane grows up as an orphan in her disapproving aunt's house and is mistreated throughout her life. Jane was still family to the Reeds though, so what might be some reasons she was treated differently than her cousins that she lived with?

2) Jane decides to marry Rochester even after he is blind and has only one hand. If someone you loved became handicapped, would you still chose to marry them like Jane did if she didn't have to? Why does Jane chose him over St. John?

3) What would you do if you found out on your wedding day that the person you were about to marry was already married? Even if the person they had married had gone insane?

4) Although during the era this novel was written women were known to be subservient to men, Jane felt that she didn't want to marry Rochester until after proving her self-sufficiency to herself so that she wouldn't feel she was dependent upon him as her “master.” How is marriage thought to be today compared to back then?

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey is a gripping novel centered around a mental facility and its patients. The novel is told in the perspective of first person, with the narrator being the protagonist. His name is Chief Bromden, and he is attending the ward because everyone thinks he is "deaf and dumb." However, Chief has simply made the realization that people do not listen to him due to his race, so he simply chooses not to talk. He fools everyone into thinking he is deaf, when really he understands everything and judges everyone. He does have a problem, however. He is a schizophrenic. He thinks that the "combine" is out to get him along with everyone else. He thinks that the combine is a society of machines that try to infiltrate everyday life to listen in on what he says and thinks. He always thinks he can hear machines. He thinks they are going to find out he is faking, and always has strange dreams. The other patients are mentally disturbed and each has different issues to deal with.

The antagonist throughout the novel is the nurse who oversees the section of the ward that the novel focuses on. Her name is Ms. Ratched, and she makes it her duty to attain total control. She creates a routine that is followed everyday that is never broken. She holds absolute power and uses it whenever possible. She gives the ward members little to no freedom, and makes it her agenda to point out their flaws in therapy sessions. Every day is the same in the ward, as the routine is followed.

One day, a new man arrives at the ward, and everything is soon to change. This man, McMurphy, was a prisoner at a work farm. However, he started many fights in order to be called insane, and transfered to the mental facility in order to get out of doing work. He does not actually have a mental disability, but says he does so that he does not have to return to jail. After seeing the total control the nurse has, he decides to make it his duty to try to break the other members free from the nurse's control. He breaks the routine whenever possible, disobeys the rules, and acts out in order to break away from her control.

McMurphy's actions have a profound effect on the other inmates. They relearn to stand up for themselves and make their opinions known. They begin to open up socially and interact in a more positive way. Cheif sees this, and wonders whether McMurphy could be the one to break the nurse's hold. One day Chief reveals himself to McMurphy, which only adds to his resolve. The climax of McMurphy's antics occurs as he sneaks the patients out and goes on a fishing trip in a stolen boat. One would think chaos would follow, but the members of the ward have fun and are able to be themselves. Nurse Ratched sees she is losing the battle, but soon comes up with a plan to regain power. McMurphy is a gambler throughout the novel. He bets the other inmates for their possessions and cigarettes. Nurse Ratched comes up with the idea to plant in the ward members' heads that McMurphy is scamming them.

The novel climaxes with McMurphy's final act. He invites prostitutes to the ward and bribes the janitor. He and the other ward members, including Chief, party all night and eventually pass out. The next morning, Nurse Ratched returns to the chaos and is furious. McMurphy is taken away and everyone wonders what his fate will be. Will McMurphy triumph over Nurse Ratched? What will become of the inmates if he does not return? How will Chief's new found self worth and confidence play out in his role in staying at the ward? You'll have to read the novel to find out for yourself.

Questions:

1. All of the members within the ward are terrified by Nurse Ratched's wrath. If you were a patient and you saw a new member trying to fight the system would you try to help him? Would you have the strength to?

2. If you were in Chief's position, not thinking you had a problem when you actually did, would you stay at the institution? Would you be able to see past your paranoia to see that you are fooling yourself?

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. He was laying on his hard, as it were armor-plated, back and when he lifted his head a little he could see his domelike brown belly divided into stiff arched segments on top of which the bed quilt could hardly keep in position and was about to slide off completely. His numerous legs, which were pitifully thin compared to the rest of his bulk, waved helplessly before his eyes."

This paragraph begins our story about a traveling salesman named Gregor Samsa who awakes to find himself transformed into an insect. He briefly lays in bed wondering how this happened to him. His thoughts lead to his job and the fact that he's already late to work. He's never been late in 5 years, so it would look suspicious if he were to be late now. Noticing that Gregor hasn't awakened yet, his mother comes to his door, to which Gregor answers her but notices something rather strange. His voice is changing. His father and sister Grete who also realize he's still home try to enter his bedroom but he locked his door the night before so they couldn't get in.

Gregor eventually gets out of bed when he realizes his boss sent the chief clerk to get him since Gregor was late. However, Gregor still refused to open the door for his family, insisting that he's ill. However, the shocked family can't understand a single word that Gregor says because his voice has changed to that of an insects. Concerned, they call a doctor and a locksmith. Gregor, however, manages to finally open the door himself.

The sudden appearence of Gregor frightens his family and the chief clerk. His father was so upset that when Gregor tried to explain himself, he kicked him back into his room when Gregor got stuck in the doorway and injured him as well. As the novel progresses, Gregor's sister would come into his room and bring him food. She would also clean his room for him as well. His family moved the furniture out as well, trying to give him more room since he liked to crawl around on the ceilings and walls. But Gregor wanted the furniture, so he came out to save a picture. The sight of him made his mother faint and when Gregor came out of his room to follow Grete to help his mother, his father started to throw apples at him, hurting him in the process. This injury, however, makes the family be more accepting of Gregor and they leave the door open.

However, as time goes by, the family begins to neglect Gregor more and more. Grete doesn't bring Gregor food anymore and when they housed lodgers, Gregor scared them to which the lodgers refused to pay the rent for the time they stayed with them. Grete believes they need to get rid of Gregor because he's nothing but a nuisance to the whole family. Gregor realizes shes right and goes back into hiding in his room, waits til sunrise, and dies.

The family is happy but also mourn for his death. They take off work and go for a stroll. Happy with their future to come, they realize their daughter is growing up and need to find her a husband. At the end of their trip, Grete is the first to stand up and stretch.

1. Gregor suddenly changes overnight and doesn't have a clue as to what happened to him. His family is unwilling to help him and neglect him. If a family member of yours suddenly changed, like they were a whole new person and you really didn't like it, would you neglect them? If not, what would you do? If so, why would you neglect them?

2. At the end of the novel, it says Grete is the first to stand up and stretch after the family's stroll and day off work. What do you think this means? Do you think it's in any way significant?

Never Let Me Go

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, is a futuristic tale about clones. The story focuses on three clones, Tommy, Ruth, and Kathy, with Kathy being the main narrator. In the beginning, the story tells of the three friends time at their special boarding school called Hailsham. This is when the reader discovers that the characters are clones. The clones purpose in life is to donate their organs to "real" people when they become "of age" so to say. As the novel progresses, the reader watches the three clones grow into adults. In this progression, Ruth and Tommy begin to have a relationship. During their time in Hailsham Tommy discovers a temporary way out of their fate of organ donning. He discovers that if you can prove that you are in love, true love, you can get out of donning for a short time. Unfortunately, their lives progress as expected and Ruth and Tommy become donors, while Kathy cares for them. Ruth begins to donate her organs faster than the others and reaches "complete" before the others. "Complete" means that the clone can no longer donate organs to real people. When a clone is complete, they have no other purpose in life and die. When Ruth reaches this point, she shares to Kathy and Tommy that they should fall in love in order to escape the becoming complete. After this Ruth dies and Tommy and Kathy go to find Madame, who will determine if their love is true or not. When they reach Madame they find out that Hailsham really wasn't a school and that it was actually a way to try to prove that clones were more than donors. After this, Tommy basically gives up and is completed, while Kathy begins to donate in order to reach completion.

1. One of the main themes of the novel is based on the morality of cloning. Do you think cloning humans for organ purposes is moral/immoral? why/why not?

2. Another theme is that because clones are not "original" humans, this means the clone possesses no soul. Do you think clones are just copies, or should clones be considered human with their own soul?

1984 by George Orwell

1984 is a remarkable book in which George Orwell predicts what the future off governments around the world will become. Big Brother, the leader of the party, sees, hears, and knows everything. An act as innocent as purchasing a diary is now a crime and can be punished by death. Even though Winston works for the party, he does not agree with what they stand for and he hopes to expose them as the frauds they really are. He begins to suspect an officemate of his, O’Brien is a member of the group that plans to over through Big Brother and his manipulative government.

One day at work, Winston receives a note from a lady whom he had originally thought was an informant to the party. The note reads, “I love you” and she and Winston develop a relationship that must be kept a secret from big brother. Even though Winston is sure he and Julia will be caught for their relationship, he continues to stay with her and resents the party even more as time passes.

O’Brien decides to have Winston and Julia over to his house to confide in them his hatred of the party as well. However, while the three are at the apartment, the party police break in and arrest all three of them. But as it turns out, O’Brien is a devoted member of the party who has be assigned the task of getting Winston and Julia to complete an act of open rebellion.

The Story ends with the “break-up” of Winston and Julia, due to the brain washing Winston was subjected to. While it appears as though the hero has lost in this story, Winston’s acts will lead to more rebellions just like his, which will help gain control back from the party.

1) Do you think that George Orwell was at all accurate in his depiction of what governments can develop into?

2) If Our government were as controlling as the one in 1984, do you think you would be able to recognize it and stand up for your rights, or do you think you would fall for the manipulations of the party?

Sense and Sensibility

Sense and Sensibiltiy, by Jane Austen, is a novel about the Dashwood family, mainly sisters Elinor and Marianne. The novel starts out with Mr. Dashwood dying and leaving his fortune and land to his son, Mr. John Dashwood. Mr. John Dashwood promised his father on his death bed that he would take care of Mrs. Dashwood and her daughters. John Dashwood planned to follow through on this promise by giving the women enough money to live comfortably for the rest of their lives. Mrs. John Dashwood, however, talks him out of this and says that simply helping them find a new home would suffice to keep the promise he made. Mrs. Dashwood and her daughters find a relative, Sir John Middleton, that gives them their own small home for a fair price on his land and they make quick plans to move in. They are all sad to depart the land they have lived on for so long, but quite glad to be leaving the company of Mrs. John Dashwood. Marianne, always very emotional, says on their departure, "Oh! happy house, could you know what I suffer in now viewing you from this spot, from whence, perhaps, I may view you no more!"
The Dashwoods move into their new home and are welcomed by the Middletons. The Dashwoods meet a variety of people, including Colonel Brandon, who quickly falls in love with Marianne. Marianne, however, has no interest in him, calling him "grave and dull." She instead falls in love with John Willoughby. She has ups and downs with him as she realizes that he is not quite as great as he initially seems to be.
Elinor also has a love interest in a man named Edward Ferrers. He seems to love her too, but Elinor finds out that he has a secret engagement to another woman and he feels like he cannot break his promise to marry.
In the end, both girls marry to men that will give them happiness and financial stability, which are important to both of them.
1) If you were poor and had the option of marrying for love or money, which would you choose?
2) Both of these girls have a lot of pressure from the people around them to get married as soon as possible. Is that pressure still felt in today's society?

The Road By Cormac McCarthy (Spoiler Alert)

Cormac McCarthy's The Road is a tale of a son and his father, neither of which are named, and their trek through a post-apocalyptic North America. Their goal is to reach the southern coast because the father believes it will be warmer than the almost inhabitable north and he believes that there will be more food available there. They must also survive horrible conditions and confrontations with cannibals. Most humans still living have turned to cannibalism to survive, as a result of this, the father must protect his son from anyone they come in contact with. This novel is very very VERY graphic. In fact, the director of the movie into which the novel is made (featuring Vigo Mortenson) left out several scenes at the request of McCarthy because of their graphic nature. One such scene in the novel that is not in the film is a scene in which a newborn infant (meaning hours old infant) is roasted on a fire. Along their journey the father and son find scraps of food, clothing, and other materials they use to scrape by. The most important of the items they carry however is the gun that has 2 bullets in it. One bullet for the son, and one bullet for the father in the event that they cannot escape cannibals who literally cook people alive. The father uses one bullet on a man who threatens their survival, and instructs the boy to kill himself if he is caught, the father can not bear the thought of his son being tortured by cannibals. Throughout the novel we find out that the mother committed suicide shortly after the unknown cataclysmic event, something the father can not forgive her for doing. About halfway through this novel we find out that the father has begun spitting up blood and is dying, something he refuses to tell his son, instead he continues to protect his son to the best of his abilities and to teach him how to survive without him. The father and son do eventually reach the sea through much trial, but they are disappointed to discover that there is no surplus of food like they had expected and the weather is just as inhabitable as where they had come from originally. Eventually the father does die of his illness, but before this he tells his son that he will always be with him through the boys imagination After three days of the son sitting over his father's corpse, he meets a man with a family who offers to take the boy in with his family and protect him. The boy leaves with this seemingly nice family after covering his father with a blanket, a crude burial.

Questions:

Throughout the novel the boy and his son refer to themselves as the "Good Guys," and they refer to the cannibals as the "Bad Guys." There are many instances in history (recent history too not just medieval) where people resort to, in times of life or death, cannibalizing their dead companions. Do you, on a survival level, think that cannibalism is indicative of "Bad Guys?" What about on a moral level?

As stated earlier the father never forgives his wife/mother of the son for killing herself, however he keeps the gun so he can kill his son if the time arose. There are several times throughout the novel where the son and father are in danger of being tortured, killed, and eaten. (A) Would you, put in the situation of the father have killed yourself and your son instead of travelling hundreds of miles without the knowledge of whether or not your circumstances would improve? (B) If you knew that they would not improve would your answer to (A) change?

Literature by Edgar Allan Poe

Poe is widely known for his literature in the genre of horror. We will be discussing three of Poe's masterpieces: "The Raven", "The Cask of Amontillado", and "The Tell-Tale Heart", each containing its own unique way of making the reader feel uneasy.

"The Raven" begins by explaining that the narrator is "weak and tired" yet cannot fall asleep. We soon find out that the narrator is depressed because he lost his love, Lenore. He then hears a knocking at the door. He works up the courage to go to the door and see who is there, but finds nothing but "darkness." The narrator then yells, "Lenore?" hoping that his love has returned. After receiving no reply, he returns inside and opens a window. An unknown bird then flies into his home and upon closer inspection it is (you guessed it) a raven. The narrator begins to ask the bird questions and the bird always replies, "Nevermore." The narrator continues to ask the bird questions, even though he knows what the bird's reply will be. The narrator finally asks the raven whether he will ever see his love, Lenore, again. The bird obviously replies with, "Nevermore." Therefore, it is concluded that the narrator will always be without his true love, leaving his soul trapped for eternity.

"The Cask of Amontillado" is a story of revenge between Montresor and Fortunato. Montresor begins the story by saying Fortunato has inflicted a "thousand injuries and insults" upon Montresor's familly. Montresor takes advantage of Fortunato's love for wine and convinces him to come verify whether or not what Montresor possesses is true Amontillado. Fortunato follows Montresor down into his vaults. Montresor cleverly gives Fortunato several tastes of different wines along the way to the prestigious Amontillado. By the time that the two arrive at the Amontillado (that is not even present), Fortunato is drunk, giving Montresor the opportunity to chain Fortunato to the wall of the crypts. Montresor then proceeds to wall in Fortunato as they both partake in what seems to be a friendly conversation until Fortunato realises what is happening. Fortunato then begs Montresor to stop, but to no avail.

"The Tell-Tale Heart" is the story of a murder. An unknown narrator begins the story by stating he has killed a man but plans to defend his sanity. The narrator says he had been observing an old man sleeping every night for a week and is terrified of the man's abnormal eye. On the eighth night, the narrator randomly believes that it is the correct time to kill the old man. The old man awakens in terror and yelps before the narrator has the chance to kill him. The narrator quickly goes through with the task of murdering the old man. He then dismembers the body and hides the parts under the floorboards. Police soon show up, saying that the neighbors heard a yelp. The narrator remains chatty and at ease; the police suspect nothing of the man. However, the narrator then begins to hear a thumping and soon assumes its the old man's heart beating beneath the floorboards. The narrator becomes paranoid and confesses to the police, telling them to lift the floorboards for evidence. He is then convicted but believes that he is not insane, he did not act as if a mad man would.

Question: Which of Poe's three pieces invoked the most uneasiness or terror in you and why?

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

This story begins with Tita De La Garza, the youngest daughter of the De La Garza family. Tita has worked in the kitchen with their cook, Nacha, since she could remember and has developed a love for cooking. She lives in the kitchen and uses cooking as a release from her strict mother, Mama Elena. Following a family tradition, Mama Elena will never allow Tita to marry, stating that the youngest daughter must remain single for her entire life in order to take care of the mother (Mama Elena). This tradition is difficult for Tita to follow, as a man by the name of Pedro Muzquiz has asked for her hand. Mama Elena forbids the marriage, but she does offer her second youngest daughter, Rosaura, instead. This union between Pedro and Rosaura nearly pushes Tita to a breaking point, as she has fallen in love with Pedro. She acts as though she could never forgive her mother. Tita says, "...she [Mama Elena] had been killing her a little at a time since she was a child, and she still hadn't quite finished her off" (49).

Tita tries to occupy herself by cooking up delicious dishes for her and her family, however, she is once again nearly pushed to her breaking point when she is forced by Mama Elean to prepare the food for the wedding. This nearly destroys her, but luckily she finds comfort in the whole ordeal after talking to Pedro at the wedding. He tells her that he still truly loves her and that he has agreed to marrying Rosaura so that he could be closer to her.

The marriage progresses and Tita continues her cooking, as each chapter opens with a new recipe. Rosaura and Pedro have a child named Roberto who Tita takes care of. Roberto serves as a link between Pedro and Tita. Mama Elean senses that something is going on between them, and she forces Pedro and Rosaura to leave Mexico. After their departure, Roberto dies. The death of Roberto finally pushes Tita over the top, and Mama Elean sends her to a facility where she becomes very familiar with Dr. John Brown.

Tita begins to develop very strong feelings for John Brown, and they both move back to the ranch to care for the dying Mama Elena. After her death, however, Pedro and Rosaura return to the ranch. Tita is once again reunited with her true love, and, now being free from Mama Elena, she begins to question her feelings about John. Tita and Pedro have an affair, and Tita becomes pregnant. This forces her to tell John, her new fiance, that she has had an affair. Surprisingly he is accepting of the situation and still offers her marriage. He does say, however, that the decision is hers and only she knows what she wants. In the meantime, Tita is haunted by the ghost of Mama Elena who frequently appears and curses the baby. Eventually, Tita has a miscarriage.

The story ends many years later with another wedding, this time the union of Pedro and Rosaura's second child, Esperanza, and Dr. John Brown's son, Alex. Rosaura has seemed to disappear, and Tita and Pedro are madly in love, even though they never officially married one another. Shortly after the wedding, they both die together.

Discussion Questions:

1. If you were Tita in this story, how would you handle the family tradition of not being allowed to marry, being the youngest daughter? Would you go against the wishes of Mama Elena, or would you deal with it and try to make the best out of it?

2. Tita did not agree with the family tradition, however, she never really acted out against Mama Elena, at least not during Mama Elena's lifetime. Does this make Tita a strong female figure in this story? Why or why not?

This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I read This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald. This novel centers around Amory Blaine and his journey of growing up into a somewhat mature adult. As a child, Amory travelled around with his mother who was somewhat of an eccentric person. They traveled around Europe and lived the high life on his father's alimony. When she goes off the deep end into a fit of alcoholism she sends Amory away to live in St. Paul Minnesota. Amory is described as very handsome and pompus, and even as a child he believed he was above everyone. When he graduated from prep school Amory went off to Princeton to pursue the life of "lazy aristocracy" he believed was there. When he went to Princeton he spent far more time in social pursuits than on academics. He wanted to become the big man on campus and in doing so, failed out of school. He joined the army for a short time soon after and when he returned fell in love for the first time named Rosalind Cannage. In order to keep her he took up a job in advertising which he hated. After losing her because he was no longer a wealthy person, he drank himself nearly to death for two weeks, until this stint was interrupted by Prohibition. After Rosalind the 23 year old Amory has a relationship with and impetouous 18 year old named Elenor. Their relationship does not last very long. He soon loses all his money and is left with no realtionships at all.

Questions:
1. Amory is raised as a privileged child with his mother Beatrice. Do you think that this childhood had to do with his failure to mature and live a successful life?

2. Based on Amory's surroundings and the wealthy company he found himself in, do you think it wsa worth it for Amory to take up an advertisisng job he hated in order to win Rosalind?

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

The Namesake begins with a Bengali couple, Ashima and Ashoke who have recently immigrated to the United States so Ashoke can continue his engineering studies at MIT. The story begins at the hospital, where Ashima has just gone into labor for their first born son. As she prepares to give birth, she realizes how isolated she has become, forced to deliver her baby alone, without the support of her family in Calcutta, India. This isolation she feels only emphasizes the many cultural differences she must overcome. Once she delivers her healthy baby boy, the couple soon realizes they cannot leave the hospital without first giving a legal name to their child. A letter from Ashima’s grandmother was supposed to come with a name, but has been lost in the mail. They decide on the temporary name of “Gogol” for their child, Gogol being the last name of Ashoke’s favorite Russian author, whose work he accredits to saving his life. The letter with the real name never comes and Ashima’s grandmother dies soon after. It is customary in India for children to be given a “good” name to be used in public and a nickname to be used only by those very close to the family, but the name Gogol soon sticks and that becomes the child’s single name. The book brings us through the childhood, adolescence, teenage years, and young adulthood of Gogol. We see the struggles of a Bengali boy growing up amidst the American customs and Bengali customs, but never truly feeling as if he belongs to the United States or India. This personal struggle with his cultural identity begins to spread to Gogol’s namesake in his adolescence. Gogol begins to realize that he has never met another Gogol, he begins to feel hatred towards his parents for giving him such an obscure name and starts to feel self conscious every time his name is mentioned. In his senior year in high school, Gogol begins to go by the name Nikhil. He introduces himself as Nikhil to a girl at a college party and begins to realize that college comes with a chance to completely reinvent himself. This change in name and Gogol's decision to go to Yale, rather than following in his father’s footsteps to attend MIT, sets up the barriers between Gogol and his family. The distance, both geographically and emotionally, between Gogol and his parents continues to increase. He wants to be American, not Bengali. He goes home less frequently, dates American girls, and becomes angry when anyone calls him Gogol. During his college years, he smokes cigarettes and marijuana, goes to many parties, and loses his virginity to a girl he cannot remember. The book goes on to capture the on-going stages of Gogol’s identity and follows his three most serious relationships from beginning to sour end.

Discussion Questions:

How much significance do you feel a name holds over personality? Do you believe that Gogol’s life would have been different if he had started out with a more traditional name?

In The Namesake, it is as if Gogol transforms into an entirely different person when he is using the name Nikhil. Everyone makes mild personality adjustments depending upon the crowd they are around, but do you believe that a person can actually have alternate identities?

(If you are aware of one) What is your namesake? Do you take pride in your parent’s decision to name you what they did, or would you change your name if you had the chance?

The Scarlet Letter By: Nathaniel Hawthorne

The story takes place in Boston, and is started off with the main character, Hester Prynne, being taken from the town prison to the center of the town with her infant daughter Pearl in her arms. Hester has the letter A above her breast. Hester is being punished for Adultery. Hester was sent to America by her husband, but he never arrived himself due to being lost at sea. As she was waiting for her husband to arrive she had an affair. We do not know who her lover is at the beginning of the story, and due to her crime she is being publicly humiliated and is forced to wear the Letter A. In the crowd we learn that an onlooker is her missing husband, Roger Chillingworth and he plans on getting revenge. No one knows who he is except Hester, and she is sworn to secrecy. As years pass, Hester works as a seamstress to support herself and Pearl. They live away from everyone else, and are isolated. The community tries to take Pearl away from Hester but luckily they don't with the help of Arthur Dimmesdale, a young minister. Sadly, Arthur is facing some health issues and gets some extra help from Chillingworth who decides to stay with him for some round the clock help. Soon after Chillingworth starts to suspect that Arthur had something to do with Hester and does some investigating and he finds out its true. Knowing this Chillingworth does anything he can to make Arthur suffer and feel bad. Hester recognizes this and meets with Dimmesdale in the forest because she senses that Chillingworth knows she is going to reveal his identity to Dimmesdale. The lovers decide to flee to Europe so they can get away and be a family, but they soon find out that Chillingworth knows of their plan and booked to be on the ship also. After Dimmesdale's sermon he sees Hester and Pearl in the town. From their he confesses to everyone and shows everyone the scarlet letter on his flesh. He drops and dies. About a year later Chillingworth dies and Hester and Pearl leave Boston. When Hester dies she is buried next to Dimmesdale both sharing a tombstone that read the letter A.


Discussion Questions
1. Hester Prynne has to wear the letter A on her knowing that everyone can see it and judge her. How would you feel if you had to go through a similar situation. How would it effect you both physically and mentally? Explain.

2. Chilingworth tires to get revenge on Dimmesdale throughout the story. Do you feel if someone did something hurtful to you its ok to get revenge? Explain.

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner is the story of the journey to fulfill a mother and wife’s wish: to be buried next to her father in her home town. Faulkner wrote the story of the Bundren family in the perspective of multiple characters, from neighbors to family members to even the dead mother herself. It is a difficult read due to the fact that it is not a typical narrative; it is written in stream of consciousness writing. This simply means the characters are literally speaking their mind, leaving no thought unaccounted for. As the family takes the journey to bury Addie, each character’s reaction to her death is addressed. Her children, Cash, Darl, Dewey Dell, Vardaman, and Jewel, as well as her husband, Anse, react differently to her death.
Anse was always a self-centered, lazy husband. He even claims he cannot sweat because if he does, he will die. This prevents him from doing any labor, especially in the sun. When Addie learned of her second pregnancy with Darl, she asked Anse to take her to Jefferson, her home town, to be buried with her father once she died. This was one of the only things he ever did for his wife.
Jewel is the driving force behind the trip. His mother loved him a lot, even though he is an illegitimate child. Jewel loves Addie and speaks his love for his mother through actions. He seems to have a lot of trouble with Darl as a reaction to his mother’s death.
Darl, on the other hand, seems to have gotten no love from his mother. He also believes that he doesn’t truly exist. He reasons that Jewel exists and they have the same mother; therefore, he must exist as well. He spends a lot of the trip trying to get into Jewel’s mind because, if he succeeds, he must then exist since Jewel does. He bothers Jewel a lot and is basically the saboteur of the trip.
Dewey Dell must cope with now being the only girl in the family of five boys. On top of this, she also struggles with being pregnant at the age of seventeen. She does her best to hide it from her family and tries to get an abortion on two occasions when they get into town. Cash, the oldest, seems to throw himself into his work due to his mother’s death. He does a lot of carpentry, including building Addie’s coffin. Vardaman, the youngest by many years, really doesn’t understand much of what is going on. One day, he sees a dead fish and therefore deduces that his “…mother is a fish” (84). Also, because he is so young, he believes there should be holes in his mother’s coffin so she can breathe.
The Bundren family struggles over the course of the ten day trip to Jefferson to bury Addie. They stay overnight at friends’ houses and even get aggravated with each other. They lose their mules to drowning and Jewel sells his beloved horse to obtain more mules. By the end of the novel, they reach Jefferson and I saw no indication of the burial of Addie. The book ends with Anse leaving his family and coming back with a new wife as well as new teeth for himself.

Questions:
1) Everyone in the Bundren family reacts differently to Addie’s death. How would you feel/react if one of your parents, or a loved one, passed away? How would this differ from your sibling’s, or friend’s, reactions?
2) Brothers Darl and Jewel have a lot of tension between them due to how their mother views them. Do you have any tension with your siblings or friends that is difficult to deal with?
3) Dewey Dell is pregnant at the age of seventeen and doesn’t know what to do. She tries to hide this from her family and deal with it on her own. Have you ever had a problem that was difficult for you to deal with on your own? What did you do?

All the Pretty Horses

All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy takes the reader on a the journey of John Grady Cole and his friend Lacey Rawlins. John Grady Cole is a sixteen year old boy who leaves his hometown in Texas when his grandfather dies. Since Cole's parents are already split up and his mother works out of town pursuing a theater career, Cole feels there is no longer a reason for him to stay. Rawlins and Cole ride their horses south into Mexico. On their way down, they are joined by another boy, Jimmy Blevins who is a fourteen year old sharpshooter. The boys end up finding a job on a ranch in Mexico and stay for some time. Cole ends up falling in love with the daughter of the ranch owner, Alejandra. The boys face many challenges on their journey. Cole and Rawlins saw Jimmy Blevins murdered by a corrupt Mexican official. Cole and Rawlins also ended up spending a chunk of time in Mexican prison. While in prison, Cole was forced to kill someone in self defense. On top of those experiences, the boys had to face bandits and bad desert weather. Luckily, the boys are mature for their age and make it back to Texas in one piece.

1) In the novel, Cole is sent to prison and finds himself in a situation where he must kill another inmate in order to save himself. If you were in a similar situation where you had no other choice but to kill or be killed would you be able to kill another person? If you did, how do you think you would cope with the weight of murder on your mind?

2) Cole experienced quite a bit on his trip through Mexico. His experiences and the situations he was put in made him transform from a teenage boy into a young man. If you were in Cole's shoes and had seen death, prison, found love, and did it all on your own, how do you think it would change you?

The HItchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

This story, written by Douglas Adams, begins with a man named Arthur Dent. His house is scheduled for demolition to make a path for a bypass. On on particular day he wakes up and sees bulldozers in his yard preparing to demolish his house. While he is dealing with that situation his friend, Ford, appears and tells him that the world is about to be destroyed. Soon after, Arthur finds himself on a spaceship with Ford. Ford explains that the world has been destroyed to make way for an interstellar bypass. Ford then puts a yellow Babel fish Arthurs ear so that he can understand all the different languages. As the leave the ship, they are picked up by Zaphod and Trillian. Zaphod is the president of the Galaxy and he kidnapped himself and stole a space ship. He is on a quest to find Magrathea, a planet that has a computer designed to answer the ultimate question. The majority of the novel follows the group as they travel around trying to find Magrathea. When they finally reach the computer it does not have the answer they are looking for. It instead tells them the answer to life is "42" and that it first needed a question to answer. It had created another computer, smarter than itself to find the question. The computer that it had created was Earth. But Earth had been recently destroyed so the question was lost.

What do you think Adams was trying to say about earth by making it a computer searching for the "ultimate question"?

Death of a Salesman

Death of a Salesman is the story of Willy Loman a business man in New York City. Even though he is 63, Willy must work every day making little money to support his family. The story begins on a night when Willy returns to Brooklyn after a failed business trip to Boston. Willy now old has a hard time traveling far distances for his job and it is wearing on him. Willy who has worked at the company for almost his whole life hopes that his boss Howard will take pity on him and give him a job in New York. Willy’s sons Biff and Happy are home for a visit causing Willy much grief. Biff who Willy invested all his hope in has failed to live up to his father’s expectations. Throughout the story Willy relives the past through a series of day dreams or hallucinations; this is the first clue to readers get that Willy is not mentally stable. Willy cannot except the future and is stuck reliving memories of the past. Willy is never more than a meagerly successful salesman and this kills Willy. Willy’s dream is to become a rich and successful salesman and he has the same dreams for his sons. He and his sons are both unsuccessful so far but Willy believes he is always on the edge of a break through. Willy cannot understand how Biff became a failure after being a high school football star with potential. In his childhood Willy saw Bif as a sucess but now he was a lazy failure. Willy wanted Biff to become like his older brother Ben who Willy frequently day dreams about throughout the story. Ben became rich at a young age and became the envy of Willy. Biff and Willy constantly fight and Biff seems to care little for his father. After one of their fights Linda tells Happy and Biff that she is worried about their father. She says he now talk to himself a great deal and has attempted to commit suicide. The boys become worried and try to and a way to cheer up their father. One day Happy comes up with the idea that him and Biff go into work together in the sporting goods business. Happy tells Biff to ask his employer in high school Bill Oliver for a business loan. Willy seems excited by the idea and immediately begins giving Biff all the tips he can think of. Willy believe things are looking up and when he wakes up the next morning Linda tells him the boys want to take him out to dinner that night. Excited, Willy announces that he is going to ask Howard Wagner give him a New York job. Willy goes to work and asks Howard for the job but Howard declines. Even though he has worked there for almost his whole life and was good friend with Howard’s father, Howard declines and ends up firing Willy. Willy is crushed and doesn’t know what to do so he decides to visit his neighbors son Bernard who was about Biffs age and hung around with him as a child. Bernard is now the successful business man Willy wished Biff would become. He asks Bernard why Biff turn out to be such a failure. Bernard asks Willy what happened in Boston that made Biff decide not to go to summer school. The audience sees in one of Willy flashbacks when Biff caught Willy with a mistress in Boston. Before the incident Biff wanted to go to summer school and still play football in college but after he didn’t care about anything anymore. Biff finally realized the problems with his father’s ideals and didn’t want anything to do with them. In the back of his mind Willy fells responsible for ruining Biffs life and it haunts him daily. Willy leaves Bernard’s office and heads to the restaurant looking for a little good news. Happy and Biff arrive at the restaurant before their father and Biff tells Happy that Bill Oliver didn’t even remember him. Upset at his father’s unrelenting misconception that he, Biff, was a salesman for Oliver, Biff plans to relieve Willy of his illusions. Willy enters, and Biff tries gently, at first, to tell him what happened at Oliver’s office. Willy blurts out that he was fired. Stunned, Biff again tries to let Willy down easily. Happy cuts in with remarks suggesting Biffs’ success, and Willy eagerly awaits the good news. Biff gets mad when he tries to tell his father the truth but he won’t listen. Willy goes to the bathroom and Happy starts flirting with some girls and leaves with them. Biff gets mad and storms after them leaving Willy alone in the restaurant. When the boys arrive home later that night Linda is furious at them for leaving their father. She tells them to stay away from their father who seems to be going crazy. Biff and Willy have a touching conversation where Biff expresses his love for his father. After this Willy is filled again with hope for his son’s success. Willy decides to himself the only way he can help his son is to kill himself so his son will receive the insurance money. Willy then gets in his car and commits suicide. Barely anyone show up to Willy funeral leaving his family to greave over his unfortunate death. Biff says he feels sorry that his father had the wrong dreams and never knew himself.
1) Do you think it is does more harm then good to chase after dreams that you can never seem to achieve?
2) Do you think it dangerous to force your ideals on others, trying to shape them to become like you.

Moby-Dick

Moby-Dick, by Herman Melville, starts out on land with the narrator Ishmael. He decides to go whaling to get away from his depressing thoughts; he says the sea always helps him. At an inn, he is asked to share a room with Queequeg, a savage covered in tattoos. This makes him uneasy at first, but he soon finds that he is a good friend. Queequeg is a kind, generous man, even if he does have "savage" ways. They board the same whaling vessel, the Pequod. The captain of this ship is Ahab. Ahab, while doing his job, has another motive to go whaling. He hopes to catch the white whale; it had taken off his leg a while back, and he wanted revenge. For a long time no whales are spotted at all. On the first hunt Pip, a cabin boy, goes crazy after a harrowing experience. He becomes a prophetic, symbolic character. Soon, Queequeg falls ill and expects to do. He orders a coffin made for himself, but he makes an amazing recovery and the coffin is not needed. Ahab becomes crazy about finding the white whale and killing it. To him, it represents all evil in the universe that he must destroy. Even after being warned by other ship captains, he refuses to forget about his vengeance. When they encounter the whale, it ends in disaster. Ahab insists on pursuing the whale as it flees. This turns out to be a terrible mistake, and Ahab does not think clearly about what is best for all the crew members. He is described as a monomaniac throughout the novel. In the end, Ahab leaps out of the boat to attack the whale. He uses a special harpoon that was made to be cruelly painful for the whale, but it ends up being to no avail. Ahab gets caught and tangled in the ropes while on the whale's back. The white whale drowns the caught captain and destroys the ship. Ishmael ends up being the only survivor of the disastor; he uses the coffin as a lifeboat. This is an ironic ending; the thing that is meant for the dead becomes a tool for survival.

1. Ahab dies as a result of his battle/revenge against the whale. This symbolizes Melville's belief in man's insignificance in the unverse and that he will inevitably be defeated by it. Is man significant? Does one human's will mean anything?

2. At first glance, Queequeg seems like a foreboding man. He has dark skin and is covered in tattoos. During the time this novel was written, the Civil War was taking place; slavery was soon to be abolished. What is significant about Ishmael's respect for Queequeg?

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

As I Lay Dying is a novel about the Bundren family traveling through Mississippi to fulfill their mother and wife’s last request. The novel is set up as The Poisionwood Bible was, each character telling their side of the story. As I Lay Dying begins with the Bundren family preparing for Addie’s death. When Mrs. Bundren says her last request is to be buried across the Mississippi country side in Jefferson, the family accepts her request. As they travel across towns, each family member shares their part of the story, how they feel about their mother’s death, and the difficulties they are going through. As the journey continues, more tension grows between family members. Darl, one of the sons, constantly talks about his “obsession” with his brother Jewel and how Jewel was the favorite child. Also, the only alive female speaker in the book Dewey Dell, the daughter is pregnant and wants an abortion. The father Anse has problems with his family and the fact that Addie had an affair, and although Addie is dead she too has several chapter were she is talking about her life before when things were good. Once the family reaches Jefferson, they bury Addie. Once Addie’s last request was accomplished the story ends with Mr. Bundren, Anse, approaching the children with shocking news of their new mother. He states, “Meet Mrs. Bundren.”

1. Mr. Bundren never forgot about the affair Addie had, and Dewey Dell was the only female chacter in the story who refused to do chores. Do you think Mr. Bundren got a new wife for revenge on Addie for having an affair, or do you believe that Mr. Bundren thought the family needed a mother to take care of the children and housework?
2. If someone that hurt you in your life had a dying request would you fulfill it even though you never forgave them? Why or why not?

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

A Tale of Two Cities takes place in London and Paris and takes place before and after the French Revolution. The first book takes place in 1775. Jarvis Lorry, an employee of Tellson's Bank, is travelling from England to France to bring Dr. Alexandre Manette to London. He meets 17 year old Lucie Manette and reveals to her that her father, Dr. Manette, is not dead, as she had been told; instead, he was a prisoner in the Bastille for 18 years. They travel to meet him where Monsieur Defarge, who was once his servant, is taking care of him. At first he does not recognize his daughter, but then realizes it is her. Five years later they are both witnessed to a trial accusing Charles Darnay for being a spy. He was acquitted when a witness said he would be able to recognize Darnay anywhere cannot tell him apart from a person present in court, Sydney Carton, who looks almost identical to him. In Paris, Marquis St. Evemionde, Darnay's Uncle, runs over and kills a little boy, and throws a coin to the father to compensate for his loss. Darnay meets with his uncle and is disgusted with the family name tells him he is keeeeping the name Darnay to not be associated with them. Darnay gets Dr. Manette's persmission to marry Lucie, but Cartson confesses his love to Lucie as well. Darnay is imprisoned for emigrating and is tried a year and three months later. Madame Defarge has charges against him and reveals who he truely is. She reveals that Darnay's father and uncle imprisoned Dr. Manette because he was going to reaveal their secret. Darnay's Uncle had become infatuated with a girl, whom he kidnapped and raped, then killed her husband. Before he dies, the brother of the raped peasant had hidden the last member of the family, his younger sister. Darnay is sentenced to death. Carton wanders into the Defarge's wine shop, where he overhears Madame Defarge talking about her plans to have the rest of the Darnay family condemned; Lucie and her daughter. He discovers that Madame Defarge is the surviving sister of the peasant family. Cartson visits Darnay in prison the next day and drugs him. He stitches clothes with Darnay and has decided to be executed in his place. Darnay's family and Lorry flee to Paris and France. The novel concludes with the guillotining of Sydney Carton.

1. Would you rather grow up thinking that your father is dead or know that he is in prison and you will probably never get a chance to see him?

2. Carton dies in place of Darnay because of his love for Lucie, if you had the chance would die in place of someone to help the one you love or die in place of the one you love?