1. Why are we shown the same events from four different points of view? How do the
different voices and perspectives of Leah, Joanna, Hannah, and Martha
help us form a picture of the women¹s lives and of Mr. Wroe? Why do you
think Wroe¹s point of view is never presented?
2. Why do you suppose Leah, Joanna, Hannah, Dinah, Rachel, Rebekah, and Martha are chosen
as "comfort and succour" for Mr. Wroe? In what ways, individually and
together, might they satisfy the Prophet's requirements? What strengths
and deficiencies does each bring to the Prophet's household?
3. How do Leah, Joanna, Hannah, and Martha use their positions in Wroe's house to try
to achieve their personal goals? To what extent does each succeed?
4. What influence does Wroe have on Leah, Joanna, Hannah, and Martha? How does he adapt
his behavior to the personality of each?
5. To what extent is John Wroe a genuine religious visionary and man of God? In what
ways do events confirm or contradict Hannah's early assessment: "I am
sure he is a charlatan, but, I suspect, an unknowing one"? Why, in the
end, does Wroe behave self-destructively?
6. Why is it
that Hannah, the sole nonbeliever among the seven "virgins," establishes
the fullest relationship with Mr. Wroe? Why does he communicate his view
of his calling and his congregation, including their contradictions, only
to Hannah?
7. How are
Joanna and Martha different and similar in the visionary quality of their
outlook on life? How are Hannah and Leah different and similar in their
nonreligious approach to life?
8. How would
you describe the relationship between the religious and the secular in
the novel? To what extent is the relationship one of conflict? What balance
between the two areas of life is possible?
9. What characterizes
the lives of nineteenth-century women as presented by Rogers, within and
outside Mr. Wroe¹s church? In what ways do "Mr. Wroe's virgins" struggle
to transform their own lives and the lives of other women? How do conditions
of life in the great house differ from their expectations and from their
respective views of their rightful roles as women in the church and in
society? Why do you think Rogers explores their lives in the setting of
Wroe's household rather than in the context of their own families?
10. Leah says
of Wroe, "He is the ugliest man I have ever seen, but he is powerful,"
and the others repeatedly refer to his power and authority. In what ways
is he powerful? Where does his authority come from? What kinds of power
other than that associated with Wroe appear in the novel? How does Rogers
portray various kinds of power and powerlessness?
11. To what
extent does Mr. Wroe's Virgins explain why people give their allegiance
and lives to religions like the Christian Israelites and "prophets" like
John Wroe, and why so many long for the end of the world? What differences
and similarities do you see between Wroe's Christian Israelites and today's
various apocalyptic congregations and cults?
12. Recalling
her life with her father, Hannah says of the Christian Israelites that
their "faith calls me back, back to that magic circle [of the Owenites].
How my heart yearns to be surrounded again." (51) What does each of the
characters yearn for and why? How are those yearnings expressed, and how
do they shape personal, social, and religious relationships?
13. How do
longings for independence and freedom come into conflict with the security
and serenity of belonging to a group like the Israelites? What kinds of
freedom or independence do the characters seek, and how successful is
are they? In what ways, to the contrary—as Hannah comments—is
"the very freedom from choice of the Israelite way of life" an attraction?
14. In his
Huddersfield sermon, Wroe proclaims, "God's order has been destroyed.
The devil is out and about among us." To what extent is it possible to
make such a claim in any age? What evidence does Wroe present in support
of his claim? What evidence is presented by similar claimants today?
15. Wroe asks
Hannah, "Do you think the truth of a situation may be understood by examining
its external appearance?" Hannah answers, "Well, yes." How would you answer?
To what extent do Hannah and the other women draw conclusions from observing
only "external appearances"?
16. Martha
declares of the others in the house, "I can follow each of them through
the house by her smell" and describes the smell of each, including Wroe.
Is the odor she associates with each person accurate and appropriate?
How does Martha¹s use of all her senses and her instinctive knowledge
of natural processes provide her with a more complex, more accurate, and
more detailed understanding of the world? Do you find Martha's awakening
convincing?
17. How do
Martha's discovery and growing awareness of the world (which is for her
a new world) and Hannah's vision of a new secular world compare or contrast
with the Christian Israelites' vision of a New Kingdom? In what ways are
Martha and Hannah more visionary than Wroe and Joanna? Why might this
be so?
18. During
one of their later conversations, Wroe questions Hannah: "You would not
exchange this world for a better?" She replies, "I would have this one
improved." To what extent does this exchange reflect the novel's primary
theme?
19. After realizing
that she is not pregnant, Joanna complains, "I am trapped in a small life."
How is this true of each character, including John Wroe? To what extent
is each character¹s behavior an attempt to break free of that entrapment?
20. As Wroe's
trial approaches, Leah determines that she will make of herself "an obstacle
to the coming dark. I am not—I will not be—nothing." How are
Leah's actions, however negative, affirmations of life? In what way does
each character—including Wroe, despite his view of life as a "void"—express
this same determination to make certain that she or he "will not be—nothing"?
21. Do you
agree or disagree with Hannah's final analysis of Wroe's behavior and
the Christian Israelites' faith? "Of course the Israelites need the end
of the world to come. Mr Wroe does, above all. So much imperfection and
contradiction, there is no putting it right. It must be demolished. And
in the New World that follows, they themselves will be saved; which is
to say they will become single in intent, contraries will be removed.
. . . Which is death. The removal of contraries is death."
This
Discussion Guide was written by Hal Hager & Associates, Somerville, New
Jersey.
top of the page
"The pages turn faster as scandals crop up, but the verisimilitude remains remarkable."—Los Angeles Times
"A fascinating fictional exploration into the nature of yearning."—The Chicago Tribune
"An engaging, serious, and gleefully ironic novel that leaps headlong into the most ambitious and risky territories: faith, love, and existential meaning."—The New York Times Book Review
