Questions for Book Two – Old and Young (questions for part one here, do not worry if you haven't answered them yet, they’ll stay up )
1) Why is this book titled “Old and Young?” Do you think it applies to more than one set of characters? On a related thought, do you like or dislike the quotes at the beginning of each chapter? Has there been one that you particularly thought was good, thought provoking, or applicable to the chapter?
2) I told my mom in a conversation that I loved the first chapter of this section. Looking back, it’s the overarching back-story of Lydgate that goes through the first few chapters that I really loved... Do you agree with my assessment? Do you like the characters as Eliot has drawn them? More or less than Dorothea and her family?
3) Lydgate’s passion is ignited in Chapter 15: The page he opened on was under the heading of Anatomy, and the first passage that drew his eyes was on the valves of the heart. He was not much acquainted with valves of any sort, but he knew that / valvae / were folding doors, and through this crevice came a sudden light startling him with his first vivid notion of finely adjusted mechanism in the human frame… But the moment of vocation had come, and before he got down from his chair, the world was made new to him by a presentiment of endless processes filling the vast spaces planked out of his sight by that wordy ignorance which he had supposed to be knowledge. From that hour Lydgate felt the growth of an intellectual passion.
Firstly, am I the only one who didn’t know the etymology of the world valve? Secondly, what did you think of this description? Have you had or seen this experience of having a new world opened to you?
4) At the end of Chapter 18, Lydgate is pressured into a vote for Tyke. What does this tell you about his personality? Do you think this is a commentary on English society at the time?
5) Chapter 19 opens with Dorothea in Rome, capturing the attention of Naumann who takes Casaubon’s cousin (and ward) to see her. What did you think of this scene? What do you think of Dorothea’s experience in Rome, and of the chance meeting with Ladislaw? What do you think of Eliot’s portrayal of the clash between English culture and the art of Rome, especially in the quote from Chapter 20: “the gigantic broken revelations of that Imperial and Papal city thrust abruptly on the notions of a girl who had been brought up in English and Swiss Puritanism, fed on meagre Protestant histories and on art chiefly of the hand-screen sort”
6) In Chapter 20 and 21, we see Dorothea facing the realities of married life. What do you think of her marriage experience, emotions and feelings?
7) We end this section (Chapter 22 ) with a deepening friendship between Dorothea and Ladislaw. What do you think of this friendship? What do you think of Casaubon’s reaction to this friendship? Do you think that Dorothea handles the conflict well? Do you think that there is foreshadowing in this chapter?
8) (this may be my standard Question 8, grin!) Is there anything that I missed that you thought was interesting and wanted to discuss?
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I am greatly enjoying this novel, and our discussion. I have some thoughts on some points brought up in Book One that I will be commenting on. I am nearly done with Book Three (although I just dropped my bookmark out a couple of minutes ago) so those questions will be posted probably over the weekend.
1) Why is this book titled “Old and Young?” Do you think it applies to more than one set of characters? On a related thought, do you like or dislike the quotes at the beginning of each chapter? Has there been one that you particularly thought was good, thought provoking, or applicable to the chapter?
2) I told my mom in a conversation that I loved the first chapter of this section. Looking back, it’s the overarching back-story of Lydgate that goes through the first few chapters that I really loved... Do you agree with my assessment? Do you like the characters as Eliot has drawn them? More or less than Dorothea and her family?
3) Lydgate’s passion is ignited in Chapter 15: The page he opened on was under the heading of Anatomy, and the first passage that drew his eyes was on the valves of the heart. He was not much acquainted with valves of any sort, but he knew that / valvae / were folding doors, and through this crevice came a sudden light startling him with his first vivid notion of finely adjusted mechanism in the human frame… But the moment of vocation had come, and before he got down from his chair, the world was made new to him by a presentiment of endless processes filling the vast spaces planked out of his sight by that wordy ignorance which he had supposed to be knowledge. From that hour Lydgate felt the growth of an intellectual passion.
Firstly, am I the only one who didn’t know the etymology of the world valve? Secondly, what did you think of this description? Have you had or seen this experience of having a new world opened to you?
4) At the end of Chapter 18, Lydgate is pressured into a vote for Tyke. What does this tell you about his personality? Do you think this is a commentary on English society at the time?
5) Chapter 19 opens with Dorothea in Rome, capturing the attention of Naumann who takes Casaubon’s cousin (and ward) to see her. What did you think of this scene? What do you think of Dorothea’s experience in Rome, and of the chance meeting with Ladislaw? What do you think of Eliot’s portrayal of the clash between English culture and the art of Rome, especially in the quote from Chapter 20: “the gigantic broken revelations of that Imperial and Papal city thrust abruptly on the notions of a girl who had been brought up in English and Swiss Puritanism, fed on meagre Protestant histories and on art chiefly of the hand-screen sort”
6) In Chapter 20 and 21, we see Dorothea facing the realities of married life. What do you think of her marriage experience, emotions and feelings?
7) We end this section (Chapter 22 ) with a deepening friendship between Dorothea and Ladislaw. What do you think of this friendship? What do you think of Casaubon’s reaction to this friendship? Do you think that Dorothea handles the conflict well? Do you think that there is foreshadowing in this chapter?
8) (this may be my standard Question 8, grin!) Is there anything that I missed that you thought was interesting and wanted to discuss?
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I am greatly enjoying this novel, and our discussion. I have some thoughts on some points brought up in Book One that I will be commenting on. I am nearly done with Book Three (although I just dropped my bookmark out a couple of minutes ago) so those questions will be posted probably over the weekend.
posted by Mimi @ 2/24/2010 11:45:00 AM
4 Comments
4 Comments:
Ugh, I don't think I'm going to make it to this book, and I so wanted to! I'll have to come back and read through everything in another couple months, LOL.
1. It applies to Lydgate, the yound new-to-town doctor entering a scene of older doctors, and older townsfolks who have been running things like Bulstrode. Also Dorothea and her husband of course, but with the return of young Ladislaw as well.
I like the quotes at the beginning - especially the ones I can understand! Ha! One quote that was applicable that comes to mind is from Ch. 20:
"A child forsaken, waking suddenly,
Whose gaze afeard on all things round doth rove,
And seeth only that it cannot see
The meeting eyes of love."
This began the chapter as we return to a sobbing young bride on her honeymoon, Dorothea. I love how G.E. has so many truths all over her book. This passage caught my attention from the same chapter:
"Both were shocked at their mutual situation-that each should have betrayed anger towards the other. If they had been at home, settled at Lowick in ordinary life among their neighbors, the clash would have been less embarrassing: but on a wedding journey, the express object of which is to isolate two people on the ground that they are all the world to each other, the sense of disagreement is, to say the least, confounding and stultifying." Oooh. Ouch.
2. I wasn't sure at first, but now I do like Lydgate, and more than I like Dorothea (who I am beginning to like now as well). I love how all the characters are weaved together. I really like Farebrother too. I enjoyed reading how Lydgate, somewhat in spite of himself and his ambitious plans wound up liking the Vincy's and Farebrother.
3. I actually liked this passage but the rest of all his education dragged for me. I had no idea about the word valve, and I think some Latin would very often be helpful! What a wonderful eperience to have, learning your vocation in such a way. A later perk to learn about Lydgate was hearing about his more juicy past chasing after the questionable widow only to be shocked and scandalized.
4. He was so torn, and seemed to have made the vote rather rushed, and then regreted it. I felt bad for him. I myself am glad to vote with a secret ballot. :)
5. This scene made me nervous. I pretty much figured nothing good could come from it. More impending doom for the Casaubons. The clash was interesting and I could relate myself personally coming from a stale, almost strip-mall likeness of my old Protestant non-denom church (in architecture anyway) and entering into rich, smokey, mysterious Orthodoxy. As a child I loved visiting my grandparent's Roman Catholic church and thought it was so beautiful and cultured, but also a bit strange and perhaps even a bit wrong of me to be liking. :)
6. Oh dear. Poor Dorothea! All she wants to be is a useful help meet but she's full of disappointment and frustration.
7. Ladislaw falls in love with her of course and is disgusted even more with Casuabon. Casuabon is vexed by Ladislaw's presence, while Dorothea actually seems to finally come alive with him. Again I only see doom, doom, doom!
8. Casuabon is such a weirdo! He's so cold and you really start to feel sorry for Dorothea and all her squandered glory.
1)I think it is about the contrast of all of the characters. I think the most obvious is about Dorothea and her husband (whose name I can never spell, grin), but I also think that it is about the Vincys – parents and children, about the other characters, and I especially love Lauren’s point about it being about Lydgate and his “new theories” coming into town.
2) For some reason the backstory of Lydgate really captured me – like Lauren I thought the actress that he fell in love with was an interesting twist, but I also liked the exploration of how he decided to become a doctor in question
3) I am not sure I’ve ever had such a “lightbulb moment” that changed the direction of my life, but the description of it was so well written, it makes me wonder if Eliot ever had a moment.
4) I think that we, in our modern society, don’t think about how hard it would be to not have secret ballots. But, I also thought it was a good commentary on the social pressure that we (or at least I) feel about so many things – am I choosing the right this or that, should I say that I agree or disagree, etc. I also thought it tied in well with Eliot’s portrayal of the small town ins and outs of the Village.
5) I honestly was stunned at the quote from Chapter 20. While I’m very well read in English History (especially through Historical Fiction) it had never occurred to me that the Puritan viewpoint would be an impediment in such a way – and I think since the US also has Puritan roots, that it is something that those of us from the US can struggle with as well.
I also loved Naumann being taken with Dorothea – the way that she caught his artist eye was such a sweet scene. I think it was bittersweet as well, not only because of the fact that she had been crying, but because her husband most emphatically does not appreciate her beauty and youth.
6) Nothing about the relationship surprises me, as the die was cast in the beginning of the novel, but it was a very sad situation to read about. While I do think that in the beginning of a marriage there is a negotiation of one’s expectations, and there are cycles of love – this clearly goes beyond both of those situations.
7) I really liked Ladislaw’s character, and the way that he interacted with Dorothea – he “gets” her, and she him. I think that Casaubon understands this on one level, and it bothers him because he is very aware that he doesn’t get Dorothea and that she is unhappy.
8) I can’t think of anything right now.
1) Yes, I think we see the contrast with Fred and his parents & uncle, between Dorothea & Ladislaw and Causobon, and also between Lydgate and the older doctors & Bulstrode.
I like the quotations--I like having the hint of what the chapter will be about. The recipe for idleness cracked me up.
2) I think the backstory that Eliot provided is very interesting, and I'm feelign suspense about the differing perceptions of their relationship by Lydgate and Rosamunde, and I like that we see him also in his relationship with Farebrother and not just as a romantic interest. I couldn't say whether I like this story more or less than the Brooke story at this point.
3) I did not know this etymology either, and found it interesting. I think the closest thing to such a moment I've had has been in the process of my conversion to Orthodoxy, I've had sometimes an immediate sense of recognitions, a profound feeling that a teaching is precisely what I already believed, but had never heard articulate before.
4) I thought Farebrother came out looking better in this than Lydgate--It was so kind to tell Lydgate not to consider Farebrother's interests when he voted. It seemed like Lydgate had to convince himself that he was not voting for Tyke purely out of self-interest, which I didn't really respect. I thought the situation was very rough on him to have to cast the deciding vote before everyone, though. As to commentary about English society, hmmm, looks like we're seeing shifts the medical profession, and the role of the professional in general. I think Bulstrode is part of a rising middle class? He's not gentry, right? But he's gaining power through commerce, and using it to exert influence.
5)I can imagine how Rome might have been overwhelming for Dorothea, and it illustrates the difficulties in her marriage. Her husband wants her keep herself busy enjoying the city, and she wants to be taught how to enjoy it.
6) Oh my, what a difficult situation. It's sad seems like Dorothea could easily be happy in a marriage, if her husband just appreciated her a little. Casaubon seems totally at a loss for how to add a wife to his life.
7) I think Casaubon's reaction is not surprising--he doesn't like Ladislaw, so he would not appreciate any relationship between him and Dorothea. I felt like when we first met Ladislaw it seemed likely he would fall in love with Dorothea, so the furthering of the relationship doesn't surprise me. I fear it means more unhappiness for her down the road.
8) Probably--this book is one dense novel--but I'm too tired to think about it now!
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