Magnificent Ambersons (Tarkington) - Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

Also, consider these LitLovers talking points to start a discussion for The Magnificent Ambersons:

1. What aspect of society is Tarkington taking aim at in The Magnificent Ambersons? Do you consider the novel's concerns dated in any way, or can comparisons be made to our own era?

2. Talk about George Amberson Minafer, the central character of the novel. What is your impression of him? Do you find him at all sympathetic? Do your sympathies ever change? Is the author's characterization of George flat or overly one-sided, to the point of making him a cartoonish figure? Or is George a fully-realized character with depth and understandable motives and/or explanations for his actions?

3. Was the Amberson family decline inevitable given the pace of change in the early 20th century? Consider the Morgan family fate; why was that family's outcome different? Was George Minifer's stance against modernity one of principle or of blinded stubbornness...or what?

4. Talk about the question George's friend asks: "Don't you think being things is 'rahthuh bettuh' than doing things?" Also, take notice the spelling of "rather better" as "rahthuh bettuh"—what does that imply?

5. In what way do Lucy's beliefs contrast with George's? Given their differences, why would she find him attractive?

6. Discuss the tangle of relationships among George and Lucy Morgan and Isabel and Eugene Morgan. Talk about what happens at the end when George undercuts his own mother.

7. Is progress all bad? Where do you think Tarkington stands on this question?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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