~ For Your Consideration: Week IV: Chapters 17-End ~ Wow! A powerful ending, lots going on here lots of threads tied up and things explained, do you understand all of them? Let's talk about the end. 1. "When were you going to tell me?" (page 323). Morgan has read his mother's letters. Why is he so upset? Would she have eventually told him? Would you? 2. Footfalls echo in the memory Down the passage which we did not take Towards the door we never opened.--T.S. Eliot In Chapter 19, Morgan returns to Bluff House. How do the descriptions of the scenery and nature foreshadow what's about to happen? Why was it important for Morgan to relive the scene in the boat when his brother died and what did he learn from the "conversation" with his brother? 3. Is there such a thing as a Chinese Partnership? Have you ever heard of one before? Do you understand how it works? What would be the advantage of such an arrangement? 4. In addition to all the other things going on in the book, there's a development of relationships between several of the major characters. Which relationships would you say have undergone the most change at the end of the book? Can you see the "character arc" of each character that Mary Alice spoke about earlier? 5. What difference did the discovery of presence of the cemetery of Nona's ancestors make to the Chinese partnership? 6. Are you familiar with the story of Parsifal and the Fisher King? (Mary Alice: did you fashion the book to go along with the legend or did you think of it after you got well into the book?) If the story parallels this plot, what do you think was the Holy Grail in the book? 7. What, now that we have finished the entire book, in your opinion, was the turning point of the book? 8. What struck you most in the last four chapters of the book? 9. I still would like to know why Mary Alice Monroe connected the Bison to Morgan's character. The Bison is such a big part of American History. Why did Mary Alice Monroe use the Bison to help Morgan work through his guilt about losing his brother? --Hats 10. I really loved the characters, Morgan and Preston. So at odds with one another, but I can't remember anything done by them that harmed others. --Hats If you look at the harm done by the characters to the others, which was inadvertent (Preston seems to have hurt Morgan or that's how Morgan took it?) and which deliberate, and does that difference MAKE a difference in the plot? In other words could we chart the action BY that difference? 11. We've all commented on how real the characters are, but who is the least believable character in the book and why? 12. "I have one more question. My family have visited a few beaches: Pensacola, St.Pete, Virginia Beach, Biloxi, Jekyll Island, Atlantic City, New Jersey and Myrtle Beach, S.C. All of the beaches are wonderful. I know with all of her travels MAM has visited many more beaches. It's known that each beach is different. Mary Alice Monroe, which beach is your favorite? "--Hats Questions for Chapters 1 - 6 Questions for Chapters 7 - 11 Questions for Chapters 12 - 16