The
human stain
|
Book
| Movie
| Discussion
questions
|
Book:
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Movie:
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Discussion
questions:
1.
Why does Roth begin the novel by
establishing the parallel story of
the public scandal over Bill
Clinton's affair with Monica
Lewinsky - a scandal that
"revived America's oldest
communal passion, historically
perhaps its most treacherous and
subversive pleasure: the ecstasy of
sanctimony" [p. 2]?
How are Clinton's and Silk's stories
similar? In what ways does this
context extend the novel's scope
beyond one man's experience to a
larger critique of late
twentieth-century American culture?
2.
In what ways are each of the major
characters in the novel--Coleman,
Faunia, and Les--controlled by the
past? Are book and movie handling
this in the same way? What way was
better/worse and why?
3.
The Human Stain is a book of
ambition that tells the stories not
just of individual lives but of the
moral ethos of America at the end of
the twentieth century. How would
that ethos be described? What does
the novel reveal about the
complexity of issues such as race,
sex, identity, and privacy?
4.
Coleman Silk is a professor of
ancient Greek and Roman literature,
and the novel abounds in classical
references. The college is named
Athena, Coleman thinks Viagra should
be called Zeus, the author of the
anonymous e-mail message that
slanders Coleman calls herself
Clytemnestra, the three young
professors whom Coleman overhears
commenting on the Clinton/Lewinsky
scandal are referred to as a chorus,
and so on. What do these allusions
add to the novel? How are elements
of Greek tragedy such as hubris, the
hero's fall, retribution, and ritual
cleansing relevant to the action of
the novel? How are these allusions
incorporated in the movie?
5.
Why do Silk's colleagues fail to
defend him? Why would highly
educated academics--people trained
to weigh evidence carefully and to
be aware of the complex subtleties
of any object of study--so readily
believe the absurd stories concocted
to disgrace Coleman Silk? Why does
Ernestine describe Athena College as
"a hotbed of ignorance"
[p. 328]?
6.
Delphine Roux appears to act on
behalf of the aggrieved students,
but what other motives does she have
for orchestrating the attack on
Coleman Silk? Is she aware of her
motivation? What discrepancies are
revealed between her public position
and her emotional struggles? How is
she portrayed in the movie?
Do
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