Bruiser

How does the novel use shifting first-person perspectives to convey its themes? How does each character’s perspective complicate, reinforce, or contradict the views of the other characters?

Choose one internal conflict in the text. Explain what the conflict is and what theme it conveys. Discuss how its resolution—or lack of resolution—impacts the theme and the text as a whole.

Choose one chapter from Brewster’s perspective. Examine its poetic elements—such as tone, form, rhyme, refrain, figurative language, and more—and explain what themes these elements convey.

Compare and contrast the characters of Tennyson and Brontë. Does one bear more fault for Brewster’s fate than the other? If so, who and why? If not, why not?

Brewster’s sections are written in verse, while Cody’s are written more spontaneously, similar to stream of consciousness. How do these varying writing styles reflect their characters? Be sure to cite examples from several different chapters in your discussion.

Tennyson says that “everyone must feel their own pain—and as awful as that is, it’s also wonderful” (327). What theme is conveyed by this paradox? How can pain be “wonderful”? Discuss at least two other literary elements in your analysis.

Dramatic irony is important to the latter part of the text—as the reader realizes that Brewster is taking away emotions from Tennyson and Brontë’s house, but the characters fail to realize this. To what extent is this a case of willful ignorance? What other reasons are there for their inability to understand? Support your answer by relating it to one theme of the text.

Examine Uncle Hoyt’s character. What motivates him to do bad things? Is any kind of redemption possible for him? Support your response by using at least two literary elements in your discussion.