Discuss how the subplot with the Heidelberg family illustrates the novel’s examination of the intersection between economic desperation and morality when they are the most financially secure characters in the novel.

Does The Calamity Club depict Great Depression masculinity as a force of societal victimhood, a catalyst for female action, or a complex combination of both? Cite specific characters to explain your answer.

Discuss the novel’s key domestic spaces (The Lafayette County Orphan Asylum, the Tartt mansion Idlewilde, and the Heidelberg estate) in the context of class structure. How do these settings subvert the class hierarchy of the period the novel depicts?

How can The Calamity Club be read as an intentional evolution in Stockett’s approach to representing marginalized voices and traumatic Southern history?

Discuss the novel’s depiction of sex work and the realities that face people in this industry. What language does Stockett use to explore or dispel stigma?

Discuss the relationship between sisters Birdie and Frances Calhoun in the context of their familial obligations and the pressures of social class. Are these motivations necessarily opposed to each other?

Compare and contrast Mrs. Tartt and Mrs. Heidelberg as matriarchal characters. How do they function within the lives of their respective families, showing an alternative to the patriarchal characters within the same families?

How might you relate the novel’s examination of eugenics discourse to present-day discourse about racism, immigration, and ableism?