Plot – points to discuss:
- Jerome’s emails:
What do they reveal about the Kipps and the Belseys?
Comment on the conflict between Jerome and Howard. Does the conflict influence the tone and the content of Jerome’s emails? What kind of reaction does Jerome want to evoke in his father?
What function do the emails have in terms of the novel’s structure?
What kind of beginning is this?
- The breakfast scene:
Compare Howard’s and Kiki’s reaction to Jerome’s news about the engagement. How are they approaching the problem? What conclusions about their personalities can we draw from the discussion?
Do you sense any tension between Howard and Kiki? Try to brainstorm what kind of problems they might have.
What kind of information does the reader get about the Belseys? Try to describe particular family members (Compare them with the Kipps.)
· Jerome and Zora had been born in England, Levi in America. But all their various American accents seemed, to Howard, in some way artificial – not quite the products of this house or of his wife. (p. 11)
3. Look at this quotation referring to Kiki (p. 8). Comment on it. What does it suggest about her identity and about how she is perceived within her family and her environment?
· It was this sphinx-like expression that sometimes induced their American friends to imagine a more exotic provenance for her that she actually possessed. In fact she was from simple Florida country stock.
- Conflict between Howard and Monty.
At this stage of reading, what do we know about the conflict between these two academics?
· In front of the entire academic community Howard had picked up some rope and hanged himself. (p. 29)
- Howard in England.
How does Howard behave in an unknown / new environment? What conclusions about his personality can we draw from this?
· Like many academics, Howard was innocent of the world. He could identify thirty different ideological trends in the social sciences, but did not really know what a software engineer was. (p. 33)
- 9 months later
How was Jerome’s situation solved? Compare Jerome’s and Kiki’ perception.
At the festival, Kiki meets Howard’s colleague Claire Malcolm. Explain these quotations and relate them to Kiki’s sense of self / identity.
· But then, thought Kiki, they were brought up that way, these white American boys: I’m the Aunt Jemima on the cookie boxes of their childhoods, the pair of thick ankles Tom and Jerry played around. (p. 51)
· Kiki wished herself more compelling, more artistic or funny or smart, more able to retain the attention of a woman like Claire. (p. 57)
- Kiki and the Haitians.
How does Kiki treat their cleaner Monique?
Comment on Kiki’s thoughts and behaviour at the festival when talking to the Haitian seller. What are these passages implying about Kiki’s identity?
Allusions
When discussing the characters, the presenters decided to make posters of two houses - one standing in Wellington and belonging to the Belseys, the other one being in London and belonging to the Kipps. Afterwords, students divided the names of the characters into appropriate houses while discussing their personal traits.
