Please discuss anything in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” that particularly interested you.  Here are some prompts to get you started thinking:

• Who or what is Arnold Friend?  Why does Connie seem particularly vulnerable to him?
• Who do you find the most and least sympathetic character in the story?
• Discuss the religious references in the story.
• Discuss the role of music in the story.
• Choose a quote from the story that stands out to you and discuss its importance.
• How do you think this story fits into the mode of the Female Gothic?

Here are some questions you might want to consider for today’s discussion of Beloved:

• Talk about Sethe’s own background before Sweet Home.  What do we find out about her mother?  Why do you think this information is important in the novel?
• Talk about the metaphor of mother’s milk in the novel.
• What is the importance of the phrase “Nobody saw them falling” when Sethe, Beloved, and Denver go ice skating?
• Discuss the character Denver in the novel.  What is she like?  What is her background?  What motivates her?
• Look specifically at the relationship between Beloved and Paul D.  What’s going on here?
• What do you think Morrison means when she says this about Sethe’s attempt to save her children from returning to slavery:  “it was the right thing to do, but she had no right to do it.”

Discuss anything in this first section of Beloved that interested you.  Here are some prompts to get you started thinking:

• What are your initial reactions to the book?  Are you finding it hard to follow, or is that not a problem for you?  Are there things that are particularly intriguing to you?  Things that are confusing or that you don’t like?  Why do you think Morrison structured the book the way she did?
• Why do you think Morrison begins with the house?:  “124 was spiteful.  Full of a baby’s venom.”
• Talk about one of the important images in Part I, such as the chokecherry tree on Sethe’s back, Amy Denver’s red velvet, Paul D’s tobacco tin, or another key image that you noticed.
• Talk about the significance of what Amy Denver tells Sethe on p. 35:  “Anything dead coming back to life hurts.”
• Do a close reading of the scene in which Beloved arrives (beginning on p. 50).  What’s going on here?
• Does the novel seem to you to fit in the tradition of the Female Gothic?  Why or why not?

Please talk about anything that interested you in the last few chapters of We Have Always Lived in the Castle.  Here are some prompts to get you started thinking:

• Talk about the fire scene and what happens. How do the villagers behave? Why does it seem important that Jim Donell is the fire chief?  Why does he take up a rock and throw it (p. 105)?  How does the crowd react to news of Julian Blackwood’s death?  How do Constance and Merricat react?
• What do you think of Merricat’s statement on p. 116 that “time and the orderly pattern of our old days had ended”?  Has time itself ended?  How so?
• Why do all the villagers start bringing food at the end?  Are they sorry or afraid?
• Discuss Charles’s return at the end
• The final sentence reads, “Oh, Constance . . . we are so happy.”  Is this a “happily ever after” ending, just as in conventional fairy tales?  Or is it a parody of such an ending?  Have Merricat and Constance freed themselves from oppressive social norms or are they trapped by them?
• Do you read this as a feminist novel?  Why or why not?

Here are some prompts you might want to respond to for today’s discussion:

• Talk about Charles Blackwood and his role in the book.  If Constance is a fairy tale princess and the Blackwood Estate is an enchanted castle, what role does Charles play?  Despite Charles being such an unlikeable chacter, do you think he’s at all right in trying to make Constance move on from the tragedy, or do you think she’s right to stay put?
• Talk about money and the role it plays in the novel.  On p. 63, Charles says, “My father left nothing.”  What does this suggest about why Charles appears at the Blackwood house?
• There are a few strange hints given by Uncle Julian about something going on between the brothers and their wives right before the poisonings.  For instance, on p. 72, when Julian believes he is talking to his brother John, even though he’s really speaking with Charles, he mentions “examining the books thoroughly.”  And on p. 83, Julian says both his brothers were “dishonest.”  On p. 91, he refers to a “quarrel” between the two Blackwood wives.  I’m not quite sure what to make of this–any speculations?
• Talk about the revelation at the very end of Ch. 8–p. 110.  (Some of you may have figured this out in advance!)  How does this change our view of the sisters? Why does Constance take the blame for Merricat’s actions and even apologize to her younger sister for mentioning the poisonings?  How complicit do you think Constance was?

Discuss anything that interested you in the first 4 chapters of We Have Always Lived in the Castle.  Some things you might specifically consider:

• Talk about the style of the book–what’s unique about it?
• Perhaps look specifically at the novel’s opening paragraph, which has received a great deal of critical attention.  How does this paragraph strike you?  Why are the particular items mentioned here included? What do we learn in the very beginning?  What tone does this opening set up?
• Choose one of the three main characters we’ve met so far (Merricat, Constance, Uncle Julian) and talk about how they’re presented in the novel.  Are they trustworthy?
• Discuss the relationship between the villagers and the Blackwood family.

Please talk about anything that interested you in the end of the book.  Here are some prompts to get you started thinking:

• Do you think Jane is right to leave Thornfield Hall?  What makes up her mind in this scene?
•  What did you think of St. John (pronounced “Sin-jin) Rivers?  Would he have been a good match for Jane?
• Discuss the “doubled” sets of cousins in novel–John, Eliza, and Georgianna Reed as opposed to St. John, Mary, and Diana Rivers
• Why does Jane return to Thornfield?  Does Bronte want us to believe there is some kind of supernatural connection between Jane and Mr. Rochester?
• What do you think about Mr. Rochester at the end of the novel?  What has changed about him?  Do you think these changes were necessary for the marriage to work?

Scenes/Issues from Chapters 20-26 of Jane Eyre that you might want to discuss:

• Discuss the conversation between Jane and Rochester after the scene in which Mr. Mason is injured that begins with “Well then, Jane, call to aid your fancy” (p. 206 in the Dover edition).  How does Mr. Rochester discuss his situation?  Do you see echoes of the Byronic hero in here?  How does Jane respond?
• Discuss Jane’s return visit to Gateshead Hall and why this scene is significant to the story  (you might pay particular attention to what Jane says about “feeling” and “judgment” at the bottom of p. 222 (4-5 pages before the end of Ch. 21).
• Talk about the proposal in the garden scene–end of Ch. 23.  What do you find interesting about this scene?  How does Mr. Rochester treat Jane afterward and how does Jane react?
• Talk about the secret that Jane discovers after the interrupted wedding service.  What do you think of the figure of Bertha Mason in the novel?  What does she represent?  How do you feel about Mr. Rochester after this revelation?