DISCUSSION QUESTIONS The Female Persuasion |
1. The Female Persuasion is about the
relationship between a young woman and her mentor. What does Greer learn
from Faith, and vice versa? In what ways do Greer and Faith surprise or
disappoint each other? Have you ever had someone come into your life and
change it forever?
2. Greer and Cory are high school sweethearts, but their romance is
much deeper than their age might suggest. How do the social settings of
their hometown and their families turn them into the couple that they
are? Discuss the class differences between Greer’s family and Cory’s.
How do family origins affect the characters’ ambitions?
3. Cory is entirely consumed by grief after a family tragedy. Talk
about the ways in which grief can change a person’s goals. How does it
alter Cory’s life path? What do you think about Greer’s reaction to
Cory’s grief-induced changes? Is she right to give him space? Is he
right to push her away? Could this moment in their relationship have
gone any other way?
4. Compare Zee’s childhood with Greer’s. Have their backgrounds
influenced the people they have grown up to be, or the decisions they
make, or the ambitions they follow?
5. What do you think about Greer’s treatment of Zee and its effect
on their friendship and their lives? Do you recognize Greer’s emotional
response to the idea of sharing her job with Zee? Were you surprised by
Zee’s reaction when she found out what really happened?
6. How has feminism changed between Faith’s youth and Greer’s
youth? What do their generational differences show about the nature of
progress? Discuss the portrayal of women’s advocacy as it evolves over
the course of the book.
7. Faith Frank and Emmett Shrader have a long and complicated
history. Do you empathize with Emmett’s character at any point? Do you
judge Faith for accepting his funding?
8. At the end of the novel, Greer is forced to make a difficult
decision about the Ecuador project. Do you think she makes the right
choice? Would Faith have made the same choice if their roles were
reversed?
9. Think about the way Faith and Greer’s relationship comes to an
end. Do you think it’s for the best? Was it inevitable? By the end of
the book, did you still love Faith Frank the way Greer did, despite her
flaws, or had your opinion changed? Do you think it’s possible for Greer
to move past her love for Faith, or will she always be haunted by it?
10. Wolitzer suggests that there are certain key people, events,
and relationships that change the course of our lives. Obviously, Faith
does this for Greer. Which other relationships might illustrate this
kind of power? Think about Greer’s influence on Cory, and his on her;
think about Zee’s life; think about Faith and Emmett. You might even
think about Alby’s influence, long-term, on all of them.
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