1. Discuss the first few pages
of A Married Woman, keeping in mind the information Fleming provides
about the characters. What are your first impressions of "Mom" (Caroline),
Kate and Stevie? What do you learn about William? Who is narrating?2. What, if any, is the symbolism
of William being unable to speak? How do you react to Caroline's dyeing
her hair in the hospital bathroom?
3. Choose a paragraph and discuss
how Fleming use language, descriptions, location, style, sentence structure,
and paragraph length to reveal action and emotion. How is humor employed
in the story?
4. What is Caroline's
reaction to her husband's affair? What is your opinion about William's affair?
For Caroline, why would there be "no scenes, not on her part"? Is
she passive, or is something else going on? Discuss what Caroline means
by being "a prisoner of her secret." (page 37).
5. Look at the paragraph that
begins on the bottom of page 45, "She finally was able to go in . . ."
Articulate what Caroline's feelings are about her life. What would you say to
her if you could talk to her?
6. Consider the idea that for
Caroline, "everything was suspended," and trace how this is conveyed
in the story. How is Caroline's life shaped by William's affair? Share
any other words or phrases that stand out for you about how Caroline's sense
of reality get eroded. How successful is Fleming's articulation of Caroline's
feelings?
7. What is Caroline's experience of sex in her
marriage? What does it represent? What is William's sexual relationship with
Caroline?
8. How is Caroline's anger
communicated? Discuss what it means that Caroline "knew how to play the
part: the wife who'd been left . . . this she didn't know how to play: the wife
of the man who'd stayed" (page 64). Do you think she's fooling herself
here? Did she in fact "play" the wife of a man who stayed? Why?
9. Consider the possibility
that April was the one who dumped William. Why doesn't this cross Caroline's
mind? Why do you think Caroline does not share her anger and resentment
with William?
10. Why do you think Caroline
looked at houses as a reaction to William's leaving for that weekend? What does looking at real estate represent to her? Discuss whether or not you
think this is a good metaphor for someone in Caroline's position, and why.
11. On page 70, Caroline is
described as "married to the nerve endings." What does this mean?
What do you think is the "particular peril" of this state? At what
point in the story does Caroline say that she was responsible for the "daily
squandering of love" (page 71)? What does she mean? Share whether
or not you agree, and why.
12. Look at the hospital scenes
and Caroline's observations about the hospital routine. If you've spent much
time in one, how do you feel about Fleming's evocation of the hospital experience?
Share any hospital description or observation that stands out in A Married
Woman and why and how it affects you.
13. Discuss your reaction to
the news that April had been dead for many years. Does this fact change the
story for you? Does it change your feelings for Caroline and William? Why does
Caroline choose not to tell her children about April and William?
14. Who is narrating in A
Married Man? From who's perspective is the story told?
15. Comparing the two stories
in Marriage: A Duet, what are some of the reasons that David (in A
Man's Marriage) can reveal his emotions while Caroline (in A Woman's
Marriage) cannot?
16. On page 154, David muses
about "old stereotypes about women being more forgiving and men more possessive." Is this true? Consider the affairs in both stories and discuss whether or not
this idea has merit. How does Fleming create a man's and a woman's perspective
of being cheated on? What interests you about having these two stories in one
book?
17. Trace how David deals with
Marcia's fling. Compare and contrast the coping mechanisms to the cheating in
both stories in Marriage: A Duet, for example, David's use of sarcasm
and Caroline's quiet. Which character do you relate to, and why?
18. Is David's expectation
of a solid marriage unreasonable (Page 98)? How is his reality affected by his
wife's philandering? Discuss the manifestation and utility of both David's
sarcasm and his paranoia.
19. What kind of person is
Marcia? What kind is David?
20. What is David's experience
of sex in his relationship with Marcia? What is Marcia's? How does sex fit into
their marriage?
21. What is it about the idea
of Marcia in the back seat of a car that haunts David so much? Why is the act
of cheating so distressing to the partner/spouse? Discuss the idea that often
the act itself becomes more focused on than why the cheating happens. Why is
this?
22. Looking at page 130, what
does David mean when he says, "You weren't as sick as your secrets. You
were as sick as your truths"? Share whether or not you agree, and why.
Why can't David forgive Marcia? Did Marcia, in fact, cheat? What constitutes
cheating?
23. Why is David so antagonistic
towards therapy? Is this warranted? Why is Marcia so welcoming of therapy?
24. On page 157, David says
that he normally loves coming home to an empty house, "waiting pleasurably
in the silence for the car to drive in." Discuss how this is related to
Caroline's "everything is suspended" perception in A Married Woman.
25. Why do you think that David
goes to the forgiveness group? What happens there, and why does he run out?
26. Looking at A Married
Man, why do you think that Marcia strays? In A Married Woman, why
does William stray? Why don't Caroline and David stray? What, if any, were the
warning signs that the cheaters were going to cheat? Discuss whether or
not these stories depict what actually happens when infidelity occurs, and why
fiction can be a good device for exposing this common and very painful occurrence.
Copyright © 2001 by Anne Taylor
Fleming. All Rights Reserved.
About
this Guide
Anne Taylor Fleming is a nationally recognized journalist
and a CNN NewsNight with Aaron Brown contributor. She is a regular on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and the author of
Motherhood Deferred: A Woman's
Journey. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Newsweek, the
New Yorker,
Vogue, O The Oprah Magazine, and Redbook. She has been a radio commentator for
CBS and a TV commentator for NBC. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband,
journalist Karl Fleming.