Lit Collective: An Online Reading Retreat discussion
Reading Retreat-Aug-G Brooks
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First Book: March (8/1 - 8/9)
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I'm really getting involved in the story of "March" now, and it's interesting to read it along with "The Invention of Wings" (for TuesBookTalk Read-a-longs). Both occur before Emancipation, but "Wings" is set in the first decade of the century (as far as I've read) and "March" jumps between 1862 and about 20 years earlier, give or take a few years. The character of March is modelled loosely on Bronson Alcott, the father of Louisa May, which is fitting since this is the backstory of Mr. March, serving as a war chaplain and also remembering his youth. I am now reading about the day he met "Marmee" who would become his wife and the mother of the four "little women." Beautiful prose and absorbing tale, steeped in well-researched details.
Mod
I'm not that far into it yet, but from what little I have read, I can tell I'm really going to like it. :)
All of Brooks' books (at least these three) seem so concept-driven that I remember the concept or the historical inspiration of them more than I recall details of plot or character. Mr. March ended up being the most memorable and distinct, perhaps because I was prepared to imagine him as the father absent through most of Little Women. He is also portrayed with such immediacy and vulnerability, through his letters. His failures and flaws, his determination to live honorably despite these failures and the unbearable compromises of war, make him seem vividly human and real. What did anybody else think about him?
Mod
I agree about him completely. I found it refreshing to see the human side of him since we barely glimpse him in Little Women and he is such a revered character in that book. I feel the reverence is much deserved, as through it all, he is a kind and honorable man, at least in my opinion. Truly a terrific book and much deserving of the Pulitzer Prize.
1. Throughout the novel, March and Marmee, although devoted to one another, seem to misunderstand each other quite a bit and often do not tell each other the complete truth. Discuss examples of where this happens and how things may have turned out differently, for better or worse, had they been completely honest. Are there times when it is best not to tell our loved ones the truth?
2. The causes of the American Civil War were multiple and overlapping. What was your opinion of the war when you first came to the novel, and has it changed at all since reading March?
3. March's relationships with both Marmee and Grace are pivotal in his life. Discuss the differences between these two relationships and how they help to shape March, his worldview, and his future. What other people and events were pivotal in shaping March's beliefs?
4. Do you think it was the right decision for March to have supported, financially or morally, the northern abolitionist John Brown? Brown's tactics were controversial, but did the ends justify the means?
5. "If war can ever be said to be just, then this war is so; it is action for a moral cause, with the most rigorous of intellectual underpinnings. And yet everywhere I turn, I see injustice done in the waging of it," says March (p. 65). Do you think that March still believes the war is just by the end of the novel? Why or why not?
6. What is your opinion of March's enlisting? Should he have stayed home with his family? How do we decide when to put our principles ahead of our personal obligations?
7. When Marmee is speaking of her husband's enlisting in the army, she makes a very eloquent statement: "A sacrifice such as his is called noble by the world. But the world will not help me put back together what war has broken apart" (p. 210). Do her words have resonance in today's world? How are the people who fight our wars today perceived? Do you think we pay enough attention to the families of those in the military? Have our opinions been influenced at all by the inclusion of women in the military?
8. The war raged on for several years after March's return home. How do you imagine he spent those remaining years of the war? How do you think his relationship with Marmee changed? How might it have stayed the same?
--from litlovers.com