#tutorial preparation

Questions for Midnight’s Children

The recommended edition of Midnight’s Children is from Vintage Classics.

Here are some questions to consider while reading and note-taking. While still, of course, optional, it is recommended that you keep these particular themes and ideas in mind as you read through the text for our discussion.

The novel joins many concepts together: here and there, then and now, reality and dreams. How is this articulated? What grows in the cracks between these joints?

To what extent is Midnight’s Children an example of magical realism?

How is the narrator portrayed in the novel? When does the narrator disappear? When is he most obvious?

The body is present throughout the novel. How is the body portrayed?

How is cultural and national identity portrayed in the novel?

Questions for Wide Sargasso Sea

The recommended edition of Wide Sargasso Sea is the Norton Critical Edition, edited by Judith L. Raiskin. It contains useful critical material. The novel is also available through Penguin Modern Classics.

Here are some questions to consider while reading and note-taking. While still, of course, optional, it is recommended that you keep these particular themes and ideas in mind as you read through the text for our discussion.

What is the novel’s relationship with colonialism? Is it a colonial novel? A postcolonial novel?

How does our reading of Jane Eyre change in light of Wide Sargasso Sea?

How does Jean Rhys use voice in this novel? How do characters communicate effectively?

How is memory represented and used in Wide Sargasso Sea?

How is the idea of belonging addressed in Wide Sargasso Sea?

Questions for Heart of Darkness

The recommended edition of Heart of Darkness is, as ever, the Norton Critical Edition ed. Paul B. Armstrong. The Broadview Text ed. D. Goonetilleke, from Broadview Press (1999) also contains critical material you may find useful. The text is also available through Oxford World Classics and Penguin Classics.

Here are some questions to consider while reading and note-taking on Heart of Darkness, our first tentative foray into modernism.

’Even when characters act as narrators, they behave more like novelists, shaping and improving their own stories’ (David Lodge). How far does this statement reflect your reading of Marlowe’s narration in Heart of Darkness?

‘Conrad’s kind of language represents not a failed attempt to capture experience but rather an effort to suggest an experience for which normal language is inadequate’ (D.C.R.A. Goonetilleke). How does Conrad explore the possibilities and limitations of language in Heart of Darkness?

Is there a clear and consistent view of colonial politics in Heart of Darkness? If so, how? If not, why not?

What are the stylistic qualities that have given Heart of Darkness its reputation as a modernist, experimental work of fiction?

‘It starts out as a Victorian story of travel and adventure in Africa, but modulates into a startlingly modern, symbolist evocation of chaos and corruption.’ Do you agree with this review?

Questions for Bleak House by Charles Dickens

The recommended edition of Bleak House is the Oxford World’s Classics edition, edited by Stephen Gill. It is also available through Wordsworth Classics. In addition to reading any supplementary material presented in these editions, it is also recommended you take note of archaic words and phrases present in the novel. For instance, a ‘Mercury in powder’ is a footman or doorman employed to announce visitors (Mercury being the Roman messenger god).

Here are some questions to consider while reading and note-taking on this massive novel. While still, of course, optional, it is recommended that you keep these particular themes and ideas in mind as you read through the text for our discussion.

Bleak House was first published as a serial over the course of 19 months. In what ways is it useful to keep this in mind when reading the text?

What is the importance of the double narrative in Bleak House?

How does authorial judgement play into this novel? What are its politics?

It has been said that Bleak House is a novel of progress rather than of resolution. Do you agree?

What are the comedic elements of Bleak House? How does the novel present comedy and tragedy within the same story?

Questions for Jane Eyre

The recommended edition of Jane Eyre is, as ever, the Norton Critical Edition ed. Richard J. Dunn, as it includes secondary reading material you may find useful. The Broadview Text ed. R. Nemesvari, from Broadview Press (1999) also contains useful contextual material. The text is also available through Oxford World Classics and Wordsworth Classics.

Here are some questions to consider while reading and note-taking on Jane Eyre. Still optional, but recommended as you develop your one-page response to this text.

'"So much has religion done for me; turning the original materials to the best account; pruning and training nature"' (St John Rivers in Jane Eyre) How are God, forgiveness, and religion portrayed in Jane Eyre? What characters exemplify these views, and how does the text ask us to consider them?

How does the supernatural weave through the novel? What effect does it have on the narrative?

How does the language of Jane Eyre change as Jane develops her sense of self?

What are the gender politics of Jane Eyre? What is Bertha Mason’s relationship to the text?

What are the intense moments of feeling in Jane Eyre? How does Brontë dramatize these moments?

Questions for Emma

The recommended edition of Emma is the Norton Critical edition, ed George Justice. As with Moll Flanders, this edition includes secondary reading material that might be of use to you. The novel is also available through the Oxford World Classics, Penguin Popular Classics, and Wordsworth Classics series.

Here are some questions to consider while reading and note-taking on Emma. As always, these are optional but recommended as you develop your one-page response to this text.

How do the characters in Emma envision social belonging differently?

At what points is the narrator of Emma critical of the titular character?

How is a sense of place handled in Emma?

What are the sexual politics of Emma?

How are the faults of each character described, and how do they interrelate? Whom, in particular, does Emma dislike, and why? What is her behavior in these same areas?

Questions for Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe

The recommended edition of Moll Flanders is the Norton Critical Edition, ed. Albert J. Rivero, 2004. The secondary reading material might be of use to you in developing your response to the novel, particularly during revision. However the novel is also available through the Oxford World Classics and Penguin Popular Classics series.

Here are some questions to consider while reading Moll Flanders. You aren’t required to answer all or even any of these in your one-page response for the tutorial, but consider these themes and ideas as you are reading and note-taking. View them as starting points for your critical response to Moll Flanders.

How does one define realism? It is a rejection of the romantic or fantastic, or is it an implicit acknowledgement of the real world we live in? Does Moll Flanders represent either?

What is ‘Truth’ in Moll Flanders? How does the text present the truth? Can we rely on Moll as a narrator of her own actions and feelings?

How does Moll Flanders present gender? How are power relations between the sexes exhibited in this novel? Is it a feminist or proto-feminist text? Consider both sides.

 Does the ending of Moll Flanders satisfy? Is her repentance believable, or merely a by-product of her newfound security?

What is the trajectory of Moll’s spiritual life? Does it align with her poverty?