59 pages 1 hour read

Robert M. Pirsig

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1974

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Essay Topics

1.

As suggested by the book's title, Zen and motorcycle maintenance are connected in important ways. Identify and discuss a few of these connections. What is their importance in the book and to humanity in general?

2.

By the middle of the book, it is understood that Phaedrus is the narrator's name for himself before he underwent Annihilation ECS. With this knowledge, identify ways that the Narrator and Phaedrus are alike and ways in which they are different.

3.

As the Narrator attests, Plato often used names for his characters that suggested the nature of their personalities. When Pirsig choose the name "Phaedrus," he thought it meant wolf. When the Narrator is describing Phaedrus' contemplations, he recalls a meeting with a timber wolf (Chapter 7). How might readers come to the conclusion that Phaedrus and the wolf have some similarities?