49 pages • 1 hour read
Richard RussoEverybody's Fool
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2016A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Essay Topics
The term “fool” appears in the titles of all three novels in the North Bath Trilogy. What does Richard Russo mean by “foolishness,” and how is “foolishness” portrayed in the novels?
A number of reviews describe Russo’s tragi-comic narratives as “existentialist.” What elements of existentialism are there in Everybody’s Fool?
Although Beryl Peoples dies before the opening of the narrative, she features prominently in Everybody’s Fool. Discuss her legacy and its relevance.
Raymer’s personality splits into “Douglas” and “Dougie” after he is struck by lightning. Compare these two personae. How do their worldviews and approaches differ? What do these facets of Raymer say about him?
Discuss the importance of setting in Russo’s novel. How does the depiction of various North Bath locations connect to characterization and plot?
Consider the significance of the two Rubs. How do their relationships with Sully and his treatment of them reflect Sully’s shifting attitudes and perspectives?
Why does Raymer find Beryl’s “rhetorical triangle” questions so unsettling? What is the relevance of the paradigm to the novel as a whole?
Consider the characterization of Roy Purdy. How does Russo depict violence and depredation? What elements of genre fiction does the novel borrow from in its portrayal of this antagonist, and how does Russo subvert them?
The relationship between the living and the dead is a recurring preoccupation in Russo’s novel, which opens at a funeral, contains a murder, and features characters haunted by memories of the recently deceased. Why are the dead so prominent in North Bath? What role do they play in the novel?
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By Richard Russo
