In One Person (Irving) - Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions
1. “Goodness me, what makes a man?” asks Miss Frost. What makes a man, or a woman, in In One Person? Discuss, with reference to as many characters as possible.

2. What are some of the different meanings of the title In One Person?

3. “All children learn to speak in codes.” What are some of the codes people speak in in the book, and how well do the characters master them?

4. What does John Irving’s choice of epigraph to the novel tell you?

5. What is the importance of other works of literature—Madame Bovary, Giovanni’s Room or The Tempest, for example—in this novel? What kind of reading list is it?

6. Who is your favourite character in the novel, and why?

7. Compare and contrast In One Person with other recent works on related themes: you could look at Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, or the movie Hedwig and the Angry Inch, or The Crying Game, for example. What do all these works have in common, and how do they differ? What are they addressing in our society and in our time?

8. “You’re a solo pilot, aren’t you, Bill… You’re cruising solo—no copilot has any clout with you,” Larry Upton tells Billy. Is this a fair assessment?

9. In what ways is In One Person a book about family?

10. Plays are important to In One Person. What do the performances of Shakespeare and Ibsen add to the book? What other kinds of acting and performance are highlighted in the novel, and why?

11. Sex is notoriously hard to write well about—there’s even a “Bad Sex Award” in Britain for the worst example that comes to light each year. How does John Irving get around the pitfalls of writing about sex?

12. Billy tells us that writers are people who make up stories, and at times he forgets details of his own story. Do you trust him, as a narrator? Why, or why not?

13. “My sexual awakening also marked the fitful birth of my imagination.” What are the links between creativity (specifically writing) and sex in In One Person?

14. Why do so many characters in In One Person have difficulty pronouncing strange, foreign or important words?

15. Do you find this a shocking book? What in particular is challenging or disturbing about it? What is John Irving trying to make his readers confront?

16. As a novel, what does In One Person contribute to society’s ongoing debates about sexuality, gender and identity?

17. How do you feel at the end of the book?

18. Will you recommend In One Person to your friends? Why, or why not?
(Questions issued by publisher.)

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