Splendors and Glooms

Who is the main antagonist of Splendors and Glooms? Why that character, and what makes their actions and intentions worse than the actions and intentions of other characters? Considering the ideas present in The Shades of Gray Between Good and Evil, discuss the redeeming qualities (if any) of your chosen antagonist. How do these traits help or hinder them in their purpose?

Choose three principle characters of Splendors and Glooms and discuss how the details of their pasts shaped them into the person they are during the events of the novel. Take into consideration the ideas present in The Strength of Youth and Managing Grief Through Love. What youthful strength (if any) contributes to the growth of your chosen characters? How do love and grief play roles in their past and present? Support your answer with evidence from the text.

Explore the effect of grief on the members of the Wintermute family. How do Clara, Dr. Wintermute, and Mrs. Wintermute let the deaths of Clara’s siblings affect them, and how do these effects inform each character’s arc? How does Clara’s disappearance change her parents, and what messages does the novel offer about living in the past versus the present?

After Clara is turned into an inanimate puppet, she feels more free and real than she ever has. Explore this seeming contradiction through the ideas present in Managing Grief Through Love. What about becoming a puppet is freeing for Clara? Does the link she shares with Parsefall contribute to her feelings of freedom and happiness? Why or why not? Support your answer with evidence from the text.

What is the true power of the phoenix-stone? How is this power pivotal to the events of the story? Specifically, how does the stone influence Cassandra’s actions and character arc? How much of her character is the stone’s influence versus her true nature? Who might have Cassandra been without the effects of the phoenix-stone? Support your answer with evidence from the text.

Compare and contrast London to Cassandra’s home. How does each setting inform the part of the novel that’s set there? How do Schlitz’s descriptions of both places set different tones for each location? How does Cassandra’s home change the children from who they were in London, and what parts of the house make these changes possible? Support your answer with evidence from the text.

Discuss how Schlitz incorporates societal expectations and class divides in Splendors and Glooms. How do the descriptions and character arcs bring these divides into clarity? Which characters are most affected by these divides, and which learn the most from them? Could the novel have worked without exploration of these divides? Why or why not? Support your answer with evidence from the text.

Based on the character arcs in Splendors and Glooms, how much of what happens to a person is brought on by them, and how much is brought on by others? Choose three consequences, and explore how the affected character is and/or is not responsible for that situation. Are consequences, good or bad, justified by how a character acts and treats others? Why or why not?