1. The word curiosity has more than one meaning: in
what different ways does the title express the content of the
novel?
2. In what ways is "A Love Story" a valid description of the
novel?
3. Curiosity is set against the backdrop of
scientific discoveries that, 40 years before the publication of
On the Origin of Species, challenged beliefs that
most people living in the Western world at the time held without
question. What aspects of these discoveries do you think most
people found the hardest to accept, and why? Do you think that a
novel set today could ever portray such a momentous shift?
4. What do you think are the particular attractions for an
author of setting a work of fiction in the past? The particular
challenges? What attracts you to such a novel?
5. A reviewer has said that Thomas writes "magnificent prose
that appeals to all the senses. . . . Equally important, Thomas
handles the doctrinal debate raised by the then-budding field of
geology with [great] subtlety and nuance." For you, is an author's
ability to bring the physical world to life equally as important as
her ability to explore and present complex ideas? If one aspect is
more important to you, why is that?
6. About midway through the novel, Mary recalls the pastor James
Wheaton's last sermon and the text he chose from the Book of
Matthew: If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full
of light. Much later in the novel (chapter 30, p. 345), Mary
remarks to herself, "This is what comes when your eye is single."
What do you think she means? Why do you suppose this text occurred
to her at this point in her life?
7. A number of clergymen play roles in
Curiosity and in Mary Anning's life: Mr. Buckland
(who was an Anglican priest by the time he met Mary Anning, and
became Dean of Westminster later in life); James Wheaton, the
nervous young pastor of the chapel; and Mr. Gleed, who replaces
Wheaton. What do each of them mean to Mary? They all profess their
religious beliefs at one time or another, usually in an effort to
somehow correct her: how does she respond to each of them? What is
the "ground" that Mary stands on when she comes into contact with
authority?
8. Mary has examples of belief systems that come from sources
other than established religion: what are they? Which do you think
is most important to her? Why?
9. How would you characterize Richard Anning? Was he a hero? A
failure?
10. And what of Henry De la Beche? Discuss the extent to which
his ideals and youthful rebellion are or are not fulfilled in the
choices he makes later in life. Could he have acted otherwise, with
regard to Mary? With regard to his own career?
11. What drew Henry and Mary to each other? Which of the two do
you feel had more to offer the other?
12. There are a number of significant female characters in
Curiosity besides Mary: her mother, Molly Anning;
Miss Elizabeth Philpot; Mrs. Aveline; Letitia Whyte. Which of them,
in the end, would you say was the most able to decide her own fate?
Which of them was the happiest? Would you characterize any of them
as tragic figures? If so, why?
13. Do you think Miss Philpot was a true friend to Mary? Why or
why not? How about Colonel Birch? Mr. Buckland?
14. Curiosity is written for the most part from
two alternating points of view: why do you think the author chose
this particular strategy to tell the story? How do Mary and Henry's
different backgrounds and experiences shape their interpretation of
events? In what ways does the author bring these differences to the
readers' attention.
15. At the beginning of the novel, Mary enumerates the "degrees
of the poor" (chapter 1, p. 15). How important are the distinctions
of class to Mary and to Henry? Do these distinctions remain as
important to each of them at the end of the novel as at the
beginning? Would you argue that either of them transcended or
escaped the boundaries placed on them by class expectations? By
gender expectations? By familial expectations?
16. The Khosian woman known as Saartjie Baartman was displayed
in London in 1810 and after, but there is no historic evidence that
Henry De la Beche saw her there. Why do you think the author
imagines this encounter? How significant do you think Henry's
unusual childhood was in shaping the youth, and then the man, he
became?
17. In their last encounter in the Undercliff, Henry says to
Mary, "I saw the end of all our science." What does he mean by
this?
18. The major characters in Curiosity are based
on historical people. How do you feel about the author's
responsibility to "reality" in a work of fiction? Are all facts
open to interpretation, or are some matters more sacred than
others? Does the amount of time passed make any difference?
19. If you could go back to mid-19th century Lyme Regis and hear
about the events of Curiosity from one of the
characters other than Mary Anning or Henry De la Beche, who would
it be? Why?
