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 help get a discussion started for A Daughter's Love:
1. Describe Thomas More's attitude toward his daughter and foster-daughter, both named Meg. He educates the two young women and inspires their ambitions, yet, ultimately, how does he view a woman's role in society?
2. How did Erasmus differ from More in his attitudes toward women? What did Erasmus think of More's daughter Margaret?
3. Discuss More's view of the family?
4. How would you describe Thomas More as an individual? What were his character and personality traits and what did he most value in life? To what does Guy attribute his rise under King Henry?
5. Talk about More's daughter Margaret in the same light—what were her traits and what did she value? What affect did her devotion to her father have on her marriage? Any comments there?
6. What caused More's downfall?
6. How does John Guy present King Henry VIII? Does his portrait of the king alter or confirm your own views of Henry's reign and personage? What did you find most surprising in Guy's portrayal of Tudor England and its politics?
7. Discuss More's correspondence in the Tower to his step-daughter. He is clearly making a political statement: how does he defend himself through his writing?
8. What have you learned from reading Guy's work? Did you learn anything new about life in Tudor England...life in the court...the role of women in society...the power of absolute monarchy...the Reformation and its virulent politics of catholicism vs. protestantism?
9. What do you think of More's views of protestants and the ways in which he prosecuted them?
10. What does it say about Margaret who, while accepting her father's views of heretics, took an oath of allegiance to Henry VIII? Why did she follow that course of action?
10. Following the execution, why did Margaret seek her father's severed head? What else did she do following More's death? What did she wish to achieve?
11. Have you read other books, or seen films, about this period in English history? Most especially, have you read the 2009 Wolf Hall by Hillary Mantel, published in 2009, one year after Guy's book. How does John Guy's portrait of Thomas More compare (or contrast) with the other works?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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