Review Questions: Chapter 30

1.      Why is Eppie so reluctant to view the videotape of her ultrasound examination?  What is the "unchanging, ever forbearing truth" that it contains?  Why does this truth "challenge" her?

2.      Consider the title to this chapter.  What is the "graven image" here?  How does the chapter title relate back to Father Andrew's sermon in Part I of the book?  What might the conclusion to the story suggest about the truth or falseness of Andrew's sermon?

3.      What symbolic interpretation does the chapter title suggest might be applied to Eppie and her child?  How do both of the scenes in this chapter (the scene in the clinic and the following scene in the courthouse storage building) support such an interpretation?  To what extent can this chapter, and to a larger extent the entire story, be read as a religious allegory?