Book Selection Status: READ
Month: August 2011
Genre: Fiction
Book of the Month: State of Wonder
Author: Ann Patchett
Discussion Questions:
1. How would you describe Marina Singh? How has the past shaped her character? Discuss the anxieties that are manifested in her dreams.
2. “Marina was from Minnesota. No one ever believed that. At the point when she could have taken a job anywhere she came back because she loved it here. This landscape was the one she understood, all prairie and sky.” What does this description say about the character?
3. Talk about Marina’s relationship with her boss, Mr. Fox. Would you call what they share love? Do they have a future? Why does he want Marina to go to the Amazon? What propels her to agree?
4. What drew Marina to her old mentor, Annik Swenson? Compare and contrast the two women. How does Annick see Marina? Barbara Bovender, one of Annik’s caretakers/gatekeepers tells Marina, “She’s such a force of nature. . . . a woman completely fearless, someone who sees the world without limitations.” Is this a fair assessment of Annik? How would you describe her? How has the elderly doctor’s past shaped the person she is and the choices she has made?
5. Describe the arc of Marina and Annik’s relationship from the novel’s beginning to its end. Do you like these women? Did your opinion of them change as the story unfolded? Why didn’t Marina ever tell anyone the full story of her early experience with Annick?
6. Consider Annik’s research in the Amazon. Should women of any age be able to have children? What are the benefits and the downsides? Why does this ability seem to work in the Lakashi culture? What impact does this research ultimately have on Marina? Whether you are a man or woman, would you want to have a child in your fifties or sixties? How far should modern science go to “improve” on nature?
7. In talking about her experiences with the indigenous people, Annik explains, “the question is whether or not you choose to disturb the world around you; or if you choose to go on as if you had never arrived. “ How does Marina respond to this? Did Annik practice what she preached? How do these women’s early choices impact later events and decisions? How does Annik’s statement extend beyond the Amazon to the wider world? Would you rather make a “disturbance” in life, or go along quietly?
8. Talk about the Lakashi people and the researchers. How do they get along? Though the scientists try not to interfere with the natives’ way of life, how does their being there impact the Lakashi? What influence do the Lakashi have on the scientists?
9. Would you be able to live in the jungle as the researchers and natives do? Is there an appeal to going back to nature; from being removed from the western constraints of time and our modern technological society?
10. What role does nature and the natural world—the jungle, the Amazon River—play in Marina’s story? How does the environment influence the characters—Marina, Annik, Milton, Anders, Easter, and the others? Annik warns Marina, “It’s difficult to trust yourself in the jungle. Some people gain their bearings over time but for others that adjustment never comes.” Did Marina ultimately “gain her bearings”?
11. Marina travels into hell, into her own Conradian “heart of darkness.” What keeps her in the jungle longer than she’d ever thought she’d stay? How does this journey transform her and her view of herself and the world? Will she ever return—and does she need to?
12. What is your opinion of the choices Marina made regarding Easter? What role did the boy play in the story? Do you think Marina will ever have the child—one like Easter—that she wants?
13. What do you think happens to Marina after she returns home?
14. State of Wonder is rich in symbolism. Identify a few—for example, Eden Prairie (Marina’s Minnesota home), Easter (the young deaf native boy), Milton (the Brazilian guide)—and talk about how Ann Patchett uses them to deepen the story.
15. State of Wonder raises questions of morality and principle, civilization, culture, love, and science. Choose a few events from the book to explore some of these themes.
16. What is the significance of the novel’s title, State of Wonder?
1 comment:
1. A 40-something scientist looking for love and meaning in life. I think the past has shaped her in that she is still haunted by it - literally in her dreams and thoughts.
2. I think it says that she is comfortable with what she knows - that she will not change for the sake of change. That she is expansive.
3. She is having an affair with Mr. Fox - I would not say that it is love and I am not sure they have a future. It is a relationship full of rules. He wants Marina to go to the Amazon because he thinks she can get the job done. She agrees because her office mate is dead and she feels responsible - and interest in the opportunity I think.
4. I think Marina is drawn to Annik because she is so assured and calm. I think Annik sees the potential in Marina that Marina doesn't have the confidence in yet. I would agree with Barbara's assessment of Annik - I think she was a woman who wrote the rules instead of playing by them.
5. I do like these women and the story of their relationship - although I don't think my opinion changed of them as the story went on. Life is complicated and they are complicated women. I think Marina never told anyone the entire story of Annik because it is a story where she sees herself failing.
6. I think there is a reason that biologically we can't have children after a certain age. This research gives Marina hope that she should have a child in her early 40's easier than before. I don't think it is fair to children to have them when you are older - having friends whose parents were in their 50's when they were born. It is hard to be young when your parents are aging. I think science should improve on nature in other areas then letting women have babies into their 50's or 60's.
7. I think Annik does a good job of practicing what she preaches. I think I would rather go along quietly and be able to observe the world. I find it sad that I travel half way around the world to be faced with a plethora of KFC's and McDonald's.
8. I think the Lakashi are tolerant of the researchers. I think the Lakashi have more modern items around them and a realization of the greater world because the researchers are there than they would have had otherwise. I think the researchers are shown a different way of life - which impacts us as much as we let it.
9. I don't think I could live in the jungle. I am not sure I am up to it.
10. The natural world is the setting for the story - almost its own character. The environment influences the actions of the characters - how they react with one another, the decisions they make, and what their future holds. I think Marina eventually gains her bearings - and is surprised by it.
11. Annik keeps her in the jungle with her pregnancy and eventually finding out that Anders is still alive. I think Marina begins to see the options in life. I don't know if she'll return - but I can see her doing it.
12. I can understand the choices Marina made - although they were difficult. Easter was a surrogate child to Annik and a sacrifice for Marina. I think Marina would try to have a child after her experiences with Easter.
13. I think she makes some drastic life changes - I can't imagine going back to the same life after all of that.
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