Lives of Girls and Women discussion

1. Bildungsroman: coming of age
One aspect of Del's coming of age over the course of the story is how she comes to understand the world and her role in it. I think that one of the biggest things to take away from this is how Del comes to terms with how women are expected to act. The reader sees right away that Del is intelligent and has ambitions far beyond what was the norm for females at the time. She absorbs information and thrives off of it, she wants to become a writer and she is dedicated to her schooling in order to reach that goal. That's not to say that women whose goals are to become a mother and wife aren't intelligent and don't have value in society; my point is simply that Del never really thought that way and it set her apart from what everyone told her she should want.

When Del gets older and discovers her sexuality, that's another prime example of her growing up and perhaps growing wiser from the situation she's put in with Mr. Chamberlain and the situation with Garnet as well. We read about Del struggling through pretty much everything that a person struggles with: death, peer pressure, family problems, sex, romance, etc. The reader sees the way it affects Del and can, in a way, relate to what she goes through because there's a "coming of age moment" for us all as well.

Slammerkin Discussion Question

12. When do you think Mary's downfall begins?

I think that Mary's downfall begins before she even makes her way to Monmouth. In my opinion, she dooms herself by having sex in exchange for the ribbon. In a way, it's Mary's desire for the greater things in life that ends up causing so much destruction everywhere she goes. That being said, I do think that Mary killing Mrs. Jones wasn't fate so much as it was a choice. Everything that happened was a choice. She didn't have to go into prostitution to begin with. Even after she arrived in Monmouth, Mary kept making decisions that reflected poorly on her and gave those around her insight into the kind of person she really was. There were unfortunate circumstances for Mary but, she had a chance to be safe and keep herself safe and she didn't take it.