Questions for Discussion

  1. Throughout the novel, Marianne mourns that she doesn’t have the sort of family she wants. She repeatedly refers to “the way things ought to be.” Is she wrong to think this way? Is there value in striving to achieve “the way things ought to be”? At what point does it become destructive?
  2. Do you predict the Magruders and the Delacroixs will ever get along? Luke suggests that he plans to always look forward and never back in handling their conflicts. Is this possible? In bad situations, might it be the only solution?
  3. In real life, the Poison Squad was flooded by men wanting to volunteer for service. Why do you think that was? Can you think of other dangerous or unpleasant tasks in contemporary life in which people are excited to participate?
  4. Luke interprets the commandment to honor thy father and mother to mean that Marianne’s parents are owed respect rather than blind obedience. How do you interpret that commandment? Did Marianne break this commandment when she continued to meet Luke even though her father had forbidden it?
  5. While working with Marianne in the darkroom, Luke observed that the problem with amusement is that once it is over, the sense of satisfaction evaporates, and that it was in doing hard things that he found the most sustenance. What does he mean by this?
  6. Why do you think Luke was so sensitive about his Don Quixote translation?
  7. After a loud fight between Andrew and his son, Marianne reflects: She just wished she came from a normal family where harsh punishments and raging tantrums were not standard fare. Maybe someday she would have such a family, but she was learning that constantly seeking appeasement carried its own set of problems. What did she mean by that?
  8. Luke tells Marianne that he is elated by the chance to test himself on the Poison Squad. He tells her that five days out of the week, he sat at a desk and did paperwork, but his soul craved more. There was a wildness inside that needed a mission to both challenge and frighten him. How common do you think this sentiment is? Do you believe it is more common among men than in women?
  9. Marianne is treated dreadfully by many people in her family, and yet she still loves them and fears being banished. Why is this?
  10. As she was growing up, Aunt Stella’s fate was a great mystery to Marianne that she alternately admired and feared. Are there any legends in your family that hold a similar fascination for you?
  11. Andrew is never seriously punished for the spiteful things he did to his family. How common is this in real life? What is the best way for a Christian to handle such things?