What expectations are created by the novel’s title? To what extent is it intended to be ironic?
What do you think are some of the writer’s main purposes in writing this book? Against which assumptions and traditions is Carnie writing? (belief that protagonists should be middle-class; assumption that a romantic plot will end with marriage; desire to portray an instance of realism united with love)
Who would seem to be her main audience/audiences?
What effect may the fact that the novel was serialized have had on the plot? (self-contained episodes, often involving interactions with new characters or in new places)
Can you think of earlier treatments of a working-class heroine and setting, and if so, what are some differences? (e. g., Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Esther Moore, Lisa of Lambeth, A City Girl).
What seems distinctive about the character of the heroine? In what way is she intended to represent Carnie’s ideals of working-class virtues?
What does Carrie most value? How does she treat others she encounters, such as Peter Moss, Jane, Charlie, or the men she meets while traveling?
Do her character and self-understanding evolve throughout the book? (116)
What are some of Carrie’s limitations of perception, if any? To what may these be attributed?
How does the novel represent factory life? How do the women factory employees respond to one another? What are some of their preoccupations? (123)
Is the strike presented with realism? What are its personal results for Carrie? (is fired and blacklisted; Carnie is realistic about the difficulties of resistance)
What other forms of labor are described, and why do you think these descriptions are so detailed? (e. g., the card-making factory)
What part does the narrator play in unfolding the events of the plot? (provides useful context and telling brief vignettes)
Had the episodes been reversed, so that Carrie moved from factory work to the country, rather than returning from the country to a factory, how might this have affected the reader's response to the situations portrayed?
What purpose is served by presenting the character and actions of Charlie? What do we learn about the lives of those who share his quarters? Does the author represent him with some sympathy? What purpose does his death serve in the narrative?
How does the novel treat issues of romance, popular fiction, and fantasy? Which examples of these are to be admired, and which elicit derision?
How is the courtship of Robert and Carrie presented? What do the couple know about each other before their agreement to marry?
Which characters read or respond to books, and how does this reflect their characters?
What do we learn about rural life from Carrie’s experiences? Does it help that we view this from an outsider’s perspective? What is added to the novel by the contrasts between urban and rural life? Do urban workers have their own forms of prejudice?
What forms of medicine are favored by the characters? Do they have many alternatives? What are some common causes of ill-health and death? (no medical care, pollution, bad working conditions, lack of healthy food)
What role is played by gossip and cattiness throughout the novel, and what are we to infer from the meanness of Carrie’s neighbors? Does this phenomenon suggest scenes from The Mayor of Casterbridge?
What is the effect of the necessity of living in tight family quarters?
Can one see evidence of Carnie’s political and socialist sympathies throughout the book? To what extent is this a socialist novel? (the personal is political)
What seems to be the narrator's views toward domestic violence? The mistreatment of animals? What role do animals play in the plot? (even Peter the pig is noticed)
What seems the significance of the ending? Does it resemble other inheritance plots? (we see Carrie use her inheritance for the benefit of others; she even criticizes the manner in which her father had acquired it, through oil and cheating)
What seems important about Charlie’s death? (in the end, has died heroically to save another's life) Is the scene in which he offers his final thoughts effective? (a rare instance in which a working-class character permitted to speak for himself) What might have been his fate under other circumstances?
What do we learn from descriptions of his living quarters? (painful vignettes, as of man who attempts suicide)
What seem to be Carnie's views on child rearing? (harshness passed on as a result of ignorance)
What importance is attached to the novel’s several minor characters? What do we learn from them?
What attitudes toward religion seem implied in the narrative? (71, associated with dour moralism)
What forms of social intolerance and condescension are lampooned? (79)
How does the narrator enter the text? What are topics most often treated with eloquence? (85)
How is Peter Moss represented? Is the reader expected to feel some sympathy and/or respect for him? (cmp. Hardy's grotesques; by contrast Peter has good reason to fear capture)
Do the police intervene in helpful ways to solve crime? If not, how does Carnie's novel compare in its portrayal of the police and legal system with early works such as Gaskell's Mary Barton or Dickens' David Copperfield? (the community joins together to protect its own and solve a crime)
Does Robert's acquittal seem realistic? Would a court have likely believed the testimony of a disturbed man such as Peter Moss? What in the end accounts for the latter's death? (fear of incarceration--an indirect comment on the horrible state of mental asylums)
Can you see parallels between this novel and Hardy's representations of rural life? Gaskell's presentation of a trial scene in Mary Barton? How has Carnie departed from her predecessors? (treatment of rural eccentrics more sympathetic; trial scene the site of reconciliation in both Miss Nobody and Mary Barton, and in each case, the woman is able to provide needed help toward freeing her partner or future partner)
What is added to the novel by the portrayals of Sarah and Jane? (regulated hatred and envy; motiveless malice; nonetheless, both evolve) Alternately, what are some instances of social solidarity among women? What seems significant about the fact that even the self-righteous Sarah helps her neigbor after the death of his wife? That Jane attempts to atone for her earlier harmful gossip?
What seems important about the fact that the lawyer is Irish? (Carnie reverses a stereotype, as he proves intelligent and industrious)
Which of the novel's characters evolve? Why is this important?
How do the narrator and her characters respond to the landscape? What part does her experience of the outdoors play in Carrie's interior life?
What are some unusual features of Miss Nobody? (presents small domestic interactions as indicative of character; any political improvement will have to be worked out in the personal realm as well; members of the underclass tell their own story) What would you say is the novel's ethos? (need for reconciliation and growth in the context of a more egalitarian world)
Is it unusual to have a novel whose plot partly centers around marital difficulties which are ultimately resolved? (usually the partner who leaves doesn't return)
Is the ending entirely positive? (a tale of loss and hope, as Charlie dies and Carrie, Robert, and Sarah reconcile) What is the significance of returning to witness the lawyer's life years into the future as he interacts with his daughter and views the couple on the park bench? (sorrow and continuity; bittersweet, since he has gained and lost his beloved wife; life will go on)
What will happen to Robert and Carrie's offspring? Does this send a hopeful message for the future? (some of the difficulties of their parents' lives will be mitigated)