Socratic SeminarFish Bowl Style

Fish Bowl• 10 seats in the center of the room.• Only one person in each seat. • You must have a seat to contribute to the

discussion. • To get into the circle – tap the shoulder of the

person you want to replace.

• Everyone must contribute to the discussion – I will only be providing questions to debate and discuss while tallying who talks and who does not.

FYI

•We are going to start with some of the prep questions from your homework last night. Then we are going to get into more philosophical questions.

•When possible, provide page numbers when you are describing a scene or at least give the group some context for example, you might say “after Aphra went crazy and killed Elinor…bla bla bla.”

• Look over the words listed below and select the two (one from each column) that you feel make the best “pair”. Then …

• Pair the words.• Jot down a few reasons WHY

you think they go together well (whether they “match” or “refute” one another), based on what you have read/learned so far.

• Include at least one example from our study of history in general and one from the text.

a. Plague

b. hunger

c. death

d. apples

e. despair

1. poppy seeds

2. insanity

3. leadership

4. faith

5. strength

Purpose of the Book:•Realistic Descriptions - The author

creates an incredible sense of time and place with richly textured language and thoughtful details – of both the ordinary (everyday life in the village) and the extraordinary (the gruesome deaths of the villagers). What are some of the most vivid images and their importance to the story and to your own experience reading it.

•Symbolism – where do you see symbols used in this book?

Feminism:• What are the feminist

undertones of the story? How does each female character exhibit strengths that the male characters do not?

• What is it about the men in this book? How do they handle the plague? Especially…

• Anna – •  Elinor – •  The Gowdies – •  Aphra (Anna’s

stepmother) –

• Michael Mompellion –  • Anna’s Father –

Unraveling in general:Anna’s Unraveling:•How would you explain Anna’s mental and

spiritual unraveling? What are the pivotal experiences leading up to her breakdown and her eventual rebirth?

The Villagers’ “Unraveling”:•In what ways did the villagers respond to

the plague? Can you think of “why” they might act/react this way?

Connections:•Before we answer this question…lets read

some of the afterward p 305.•Also, read question 2 on page 9 of the

readers guide (at the end of the book). •Can we relate the story of this town’s

extraordinary sacrifice to our own time? Is it unrealistic to expect a village facing a similar threat to make the same decision nowadays? What lessons might we learn from the villagers in Geraldine Brooks’ Year of Wonders?

Linking the book to its time:•What does this book reveal to us about

the medieval world?•Take a moment to create a web diagram

of all of your ideas

Images of God and Faith:There are numerous images of God in this book. Please examine some of the following pages to get a glimpse. How does the image of God (especially for Anna) change over the year?• Page 86-87 – she is in the graveyard after most of her

loved ones have died.• Page 160 – Jakob Merrill has confessed on his death bed

to being a poor husband and father. Mompellion describes God’s love.

• Page 168 – Mompellion closes the graveyard and responds to the fears of the parish.

• Page 215 – Anna reflects on the prevailing view points of why the Plague had come to them to begin with. She has some profound realizations.

• Page 250 – Faith dies.• Page 301 – or does it?

After this seminar

•Have your views changed regarding the book?

•Would you recommend this book? Yes or No