For Your Consideration:
Sebastian Contra Mundum: Against the World:



  • "Sebsatian contra mundum" What on earth is happening to Sebastian? Charles repeats contra mundum as a pledge of fidelity, but how does the world seem against Sebastian? You'd have thought he had everything anybody could want? What do you think is causing Sebastian's distress? Why does he suspect Charles of being a "spy" for his mother? What's going ON?'
  • "I went to the garden-room this morning and was so very sorry."-Teresa Marchmain. What does this mean? What is she sorry about? His painting? What do you make of Lady Marchmain and her three sainted brothers? Do you agree with her remedies for helping Sebastian? What would you do if, heaven forbid, he was your son? Do you fault her relationship with Charles? What would you do in the same situation?
  • "Oh dear it's very difficult being a Catholic." Religion and specifically Catholicism seems to predominate in this section, yet it seems to have a strange impact on most of the characters. It might be interesting to watch the effect on each as we go.
  • "It was awful for mummy. She couldn't exactly try and stop him, but of course it was the last thing she wanted. Think what people would have said-the eldest son; it's not as if it had been me." ---Why did Lady Marchmain not want Bridey to be a priest?
  • "It has been my tragedy that I abominate the English countryside. I suppose it is a disgraceful thing to inherit great responsibilities and to be entirely indifferent to them." What do you make of Lord Marchmain? What do you think he is really fleeing?
  • "How good it is to sit in the shade and talk of love." What is this section talking about, do you think? What are some of the themes YOU see emerging?


    "Oh Charles, what has happened since last term? I feel so old."
  • Dueling Themes:
    "The characters (all of them?) are spiritually ill...there is an emptiness in each person." --Hats
    ---How does each person react to the predominant dual themes of this section: Religion and Alcoholism?
  • Did Waugh hone in on the fact that all of us have lost or never discovered a piece of Arcadia?---Hats -----Despite the fact that this book takes place among a set of people, places and circumstances most of us have never personally experienced, like a lot of other literature, are there any universal themes, or applications to our own lives we can relate to? If you can relate to anything so far in the book, what would it be?
  • Waugh has been accused of elitism in his statements of why the brave good brothers of Lady Marchmain, so beloved, had to die to make the world safe for the Hoopers of the next generation? How do these sentiments reflect the time period of the book, and do you think they are examples of an elite attitude? If he has an elitist attitude, is he alone in this book?
  • Changes: ----Already we can see the shadows growing, Charles and Sebastian feel old, Aloysius is put away, forgotten, gone. ----If Aloysius is Sebastian's conscience, then what is being said by his absence? If he speaks for Sebastian then what does his absence mean?
  • Let's examine the nature of the relationships or bonding we see among the characters. Is all affection reciprocated? When is affection unrequited? Who seems never to have bonded with anybody? ---Pedln, Jane
  • "Will Julia's husband be acceptable to Mummy? Why or why not? " ---Mippy
  • "To me, Lady Marchmain is the crucial figure of the book. Her actions determine the fate of almost all the characters." ---Pat H. ----Are there any other characters whom you might consider the crucial figure of the book? Is there any character (we might want to ask ourselves this at the end) not affected by Lady Marchmain?
  • "There are several parts of the book where I feel that what Waugh thinks and wants to make me feel are very different from what I actually think and feel, and this is one of them."----Pat H "This is Waugh talking, not Charles." --- Joan K ---- What instances in the book do you see Waugh's intent or manipulation peeking through, and does he convince you?
  • Anthony Blanche had taken something with him when he went; he had locked a door and hung the key on his chain; and all his friends, among whom he had always been a stranger, needed him now.
    What does that mean?
  • What is a "bob?"
  • "Bridey, don't be so Jesuitical." ----What does that mean?
  • Unexpectedly, I missed my cousin Jasper, who had got his first in Greats and was now cumbrously setting about a life of public mischief in London; I needed him to shock; without that massive presence the college seemed to lack solidity; it no longer provoked and gave point to outrage as it had done in the summer....
    ----What is actually happening here?
  • "Let's recognize the tragic figure that Lady Marchmain really is."---DayTripper "It has been my tragedy that I abominate the English countryside...."---Lord Marchmain -----Is this story a tragedy, and if so, for whom? What do you think? -----If Teresa Marchmain is acting out her own tragedy, what would you say is her tragic flaw? And you need a hero, in the sense of Classical Tragedy, who is the hero in this piece gone wrong?