The Last Graduate

As a loner, El initially rejects overtures from potential friends, allies, and enclaves, but she does eventually spearhead the collective project to save everyone in the school. How does El’s journey from loner to leader allow Novik to critique real-world societal models of community and privilege?

How does Novik convey a sense of the Scholomance’s sentience? Identify and analyze at least three instances in which it functions as a character rather than as a setting.

Compare and contrast Orion and El. How do their differing approaches to the ethics of survival affect their burgeoning romantic relationship?

How does the New York enclave differ from its rivals? What is its broader reputation amongst the student body, and how does this perception influence individual students’ actions?

Throughout most of the novel, the enclavers hold much more power than indie kids. How does Novik use this dynamic to comment on power relations in the real world? What situations in your own society reflect similar dynamics?

How does the world of the Scholomance compare to other “magic schools,” such as Hogwarts in the Harry Potter series? How does Novik both observe and subvert the key tropes of this fantasy subgenre?

Both the Scholomance and the surrounding world seem to function arbitrarily but in fact are governed by underlying rules. What are those rules, and how do these mandates mirror those in real-world economic systems?

How does El sometimes function as an unreliable narrator? Identify and analyze at least three assertions that reveal El’s distorted view of the social world that surrounds her. How does she learn to correct these misconceptions?