Reflections in a Golden Eye

Using a paragraph of your choice, explore how the narrative perspective facilitates different points of view in the text. How does this narration paint a picture of a character?

Reflections in a Golden Eye is set in the 1930s and was published in 1941—before the Civil Rights Movement, the movement for women’s rights, or the movement for gay rights. Pick two characters in the novel. How does their historical societal ethos affect their lives and how much agency they have?

Reflections in a Golden Eye takes place on an army base. How does the military setting influence the characters?

Is there an obvious protagonist or antagonist in this story? Is there an obvious hero or villain? If so, who are they and how can we tell? If not, what moral forces are at work in the novel?

Pick two characters. How are the ways they repress their desires similar, and how are they different?

Why does the novel end where it does, and so abruptly? Does that influence your interpretation of the story?

Alison dies near the end of the novel after longing for escape. What happens because of her death, and how might the novel be different if she had survived?

Each character is from a different place and a different social sphere. How does each character’s speech mark them differently, and how might that affect others’ perceptions of them?