The Cider House Rules

Homer Wells is an orphan, and he thinks of himself as alone in the world. Yet by the novel’s end, he is part of a family, albeit an unconventional one. What understanding does he come to about families and about his own nature? How does he change, and how does he remain the same over the course of the novel?

The later part of this novel takes place during World War II, and there is a long description of Wally Worthington’s wartime experiences in Burma. What purpose do you think that this description serves? What perspective does it give readers on the characters at home in Maine, and the worlds of the orchard and the orphanage?

Mr. Rose is a complicated character, who readers see only from the outside. What is his role in the novel, and his effect on the other characters? How do his own rules reflect on the official cider house rules that Olive Worthington has composed?

Dr. Larch believes in a woman’s right to abortion, at a time when abortion is illegal. What in his own life has led him to this belief? How is his belief reinforced by the behavior that he sees as an abortion doctor?

Melony, like Homer, is an orphan, and she leaves the orphanage shortly after he does. How are their experiences out in the world similar and different? What do their experiences show about their different characters?

Dr. Lynch reflects at one point that St. Cloud’s has the perfect weather for an orphanage. What do you think he means by this? How does the weather at St. Cloud’s both affect and mirror the atmosphere of the orphanage?

This novel takes place in the 1930s through to the 1950s, and there is a climate of secrecy and hypocrisy around sex. How do you see this not only in the novel’s treatment of abortions, but in the behavior of the characters around sex?

Ocean’s View orchard represents a major change for Homer after the world of the orphanage. What do you think that he might miss about the orphanage, despite his relief at leaving it? What are some similarities in these mostly very different environments?