The English Teacher Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, and our BookBrowse Review of The English Teacher.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. At the heart of the novel is the quest of Vida to find truth through fiction. The epigraph for The English Teacher, "Life is beginning. I now break into my hoard of life," is from Virginia Woolf. How would you describe Vida as an English teacher? What are her strengths? What are her dramatic limitations? What distinguishes an English teacher from other teachers? Does living in the world of books hamper Vida, or does it expand her experience? Do the students of an imaginative English teacher—and readers of good books—suspend disbelief in order to grow or live on multiple levels?
   
2. Why does Vida hate teaching Tess of the D'Urbervilles? Why is she afraid of Peter reading it? (See pages 33–38.) What is perverse about her students' taking the book to their hearts, adding it to Mrs. Avery's legendary status? How does the teaching of the novel continue to correlate with events in the book? See the last page, for instance.
   
3. Peter is largely resistant to his mother's obsession with literature. He feels held at arm's length by her retreats into poetry and fiction. Is that a fair assessment on his part? Describe one time when he, too, understands something better, more immediately, by recalling a poem.
   

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Grove Press. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.