Out of Eden Book

Questions to Ponder

1. The last line of the Prologue poses two questions: What inspires and what destroys? How does the novel develop answers to these questions?

2. Does Milton's line from "Paradise Lost" resonate as the novel reaches its conclusion?

3. What could a woman do today that is equivalent to what these women did?

4. Why is Lydia, who can be insightful, so ignorant of the relationship between Sam and Charlotte?

5. At one point Lydia tells Anne that they are stronger than the others. Do you think that is so? Why or why not?

6. The author uses the weather as another character in the book. In what way does it also become a reflection of the interior lives of Lydia and Charlotte?

7. This story deals with betrayal between women. Do men's and women's betrayals differ?

8. Lydia justifies her need for more land and her deception of Charlotte. Is either justifiable? Is either understandable?

9. In many novels particular houses become central to the development of characters and story as in the case of Twin House Farm in Out of Eden. What do these two houses come to represent? Name other houses--such as Manderly, Tara, Bleak House--and discuss their significance.

10. What underpins the bond between Lydia and Charlotte?

11. In the last part of the nineteenth century, many who were bored or impatient became either activists and/or mystics. Is this successfully reflected in the novel?

12. At the end, is Lydia's offer to Charlotte an act of transcendence or redemption? Or is Charlotte's final assessment of Lydia correct?

13. Do any of the characters change? In what ways?

14. If theunexamined life is not worth living, does the constant examining of it make the lives of Lydia and Charlotte more difficult or more bearable?

15. The women talk much about "finding their essence." How does this search impact their lives?

16. Which character did you empathize with the most?

17. Which one did you empathize with the least?

18. What do you think of the male characters--Sam, Frank, Gabriel, Ed Leggett? Are any of them as strong as the women are? Are they sympathetic? Why or why not?

19. What aspect of the American spirit does Frank most embody?

20. Given their characters, would his and Lydia's relationship have turned out differently? Had he become involved with Charlotte, could he have changed?

21. What happens when the ideas the women espouse in France are tested against the harsh realities of the frontier?

22. Early on Lydia remarks: "I'm in constant battle with myself, for I want all the world to love me, yet I somehow manage to offend." How do you see this theme played out in Lydia's life?

23. Does the role of women in the nineteenth century have relevance for women today?

24. What would be today's equivalent of what those women on Twin House Farm did? What about the equivalent for May Benson, Sam's wife, and Emma Leggett?

25. Does the formality of sentence structure and conversation succeed in creating a sense of the classical in this novel?

26. Questions arise in the novel over the definition of self; free will versus determinism; and classical rationalism versus romanticism's penchant for the impulsive or natural. Are there situations today that correspond to those in the novel? What are they?

27. What other matters hit upon in the novel are still relevant today?

28. Did you find the ending satisfying?