Bring on the tough stuff - there’s not just one right answer.
- Does reading Daniel Deronda feel like reading two different novels, or did you feel like the two major plot lines (Gwendolen's story and Daniel's story) worked together? How come?
- Do you think that the novel is sympathetic to its Jewish characters, or do you think that it plays too much on stereotypes?
- Who do you think is the real protagonist of the novel, Daniel or Gwendolen? Why?
- What effect do you think the names of the eight separate "books" of the novel have on the way we read and think about Daniel Deronda and the characters in it? (For example, the first book is called "The Spoiled Child." How does this affect the way you look at Gwendolen?)
- What is the purpose of all of the epigraphs that begin each chapter? Are they distracting?