In the end, does Ruth follow her heart, or is she still under Amanda’s control? Does Ruth return home truly of her own volition?ġ3. Why do you think the author chose such an unusual, visually graphic scene to mark the unfolding of their intertwined lives?ġ2. Ruth and Imogene’s intense friendship commences with the voluntary loss of Ruth’s dead, black tooth. Did you like the continuously shifting narration? What was the overall effect of this plot device?ġ1. She, especially, is preoccupied throughout the novel with this locale. Both Mathilde and Amanda become pregnant there, and it is where they retreat to during Amanda’s term.
The island seems to be a very important metaphor. Why do you think the author created these male characters this way?ĩ. Carl leaves, Clement womanizes, Arthur cannot determine whom he truly loves. The three main male characters-Carl, Clement, Arthur-though different, are all ultimately ineffectual in some sense. Do you feel that Amanda’s jealousy of her sister was abnormal or just common sibling rivalry? Why do you think the author juxtaposed their relationship with Ruth and Imogene’s?Ĩ. Did any of these relationships, in particular, strike a chord with you?ħ.
The complicated and varied relationships between women-friends, sisters, mothers and daughters, aunts and nieces-lie at the heart of this novel. Do you think the author intended for it to be symbolic of something? If so, what?Ħ. The lake is a striking backdrop throughout the novel, and most of the traumatic or profound moments occur there: Mathilde and Clement die there, Amanda forces Ruth to swim in it, Imogene and Ruth both fall in love upon it. How do you think Amanda regarded Ruth? What, in your mind, was the real significance of their relationship? Did Amanda truly love Ruth?ĥ. At times they are presented in a mother/daughter dynamic, but at other moments they seem poised as siblings almost, or even as foils to each other-especially when Amanda speaks to us about her own childhood. Ruth and Amanda’s relationship is one of the most compelling elements of the novel. Do you think the author skillfully built up the suspense of the fateful night on the lake? Did you guess what would happen?Ĥ. Did you find most of the main players in Drowning Ruth to be complicated and not easily categorized? Who intrigued you the most?ģ. What are your feelings about her? Were you mostly sympathetic to her or turned off by her controlling spirit?Ģ. Throughout the story, Amanda seems to be alternately portrayed as either sinister and mentally unbalanced or as a sad woman who is a victim of circumstance.
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