66 pages • 2 hours read
Amitav GhoshSea of Poppies
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2008A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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To what extent is it possible for the rule of law to be malleable? In what situations is it acceptable to bend the rigidity of the rule of law?
Is Captain Chillingworth a sympathetic character? Discuss the characterization of Chillingworth and consider to what extent he might be considered to be sympathetic, if at all.
What does Mr. Crowle mean when he tells Zachary that he has been waiting for him? Examine the turn in Crowle’s treatment of Zachary to determine what Crowle may have been trying to accomplish in the final chapter.
What is the importance of physical attributes in the novel? How do specific physical characteristics reflect or underscore character traits and development throughout the text?
Choose one linguistically complex scene to explicate. What are the different registers being expressed in the scene? In what way(s) does the complexity of language help develop the scene?
What claim does the novel make about the nature of free trade? Do you agree? Why or why not? (You may wish to incorporate the ideas of the thinkers mentioned by Neel Halder in the early discussion of it.)
Explore the development of the First Opium War. In what way(s) does the novel reflect the historical reality of that development?
Personal transformation and identity fluidity are central elements of the novel. Choose one character and discuss their development through a lens of fundamental identity transformation.
What claims does the novel make about personal liberty? Choose one scene and explore it through these claims.
The novel develops through a series of intertwining stories that come together before once again splitting apart, albeit in a different permutation. As a result, there are a myriad of characters through which we understand the events. Choose two such characters, ones that contrast in some important way, and discuss first how those characters develop throughout the novel, and second how their different perspectives might serve to help us understand the events of the novel in a fundamentally different way.
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By Amitav Ghosh
