Bring on the tough stuff - there’s not just one right answer.
- Is the kind of ultimate power or authority that Captain Jaggery exercises ever appropriate or useful? What about in an emergency? (This is one of Jaggery's favorite lines, remember.)
- Do you think gender bending really has radical possibility? Can changing your gender really change the world?
- Would you have returned to the ship at the end of the book?
- How would you run a ship if you were appointed captain? As a monarchy? Democracy? Commune? Something entirely different?
- Do you think a thirteen-year-old girl could really do the kind of physical labor Charlotte does? If not, does this lack of realism make the novel any less effective?
- Charlotte joined the crew and discovered the person she wanted to be. Can joining a group make you more of an individual?
- Is writing a kind of agency? That is, by writing are we taking action?
- Why is it important to be able to speak for yourself? What's the cost of silence?
- How do you define yourself? Do you think of yourself in relation to someone else? Or as an individual? Do think this questions changes for boys and girls?
- Can a system silence someone?
- Does justice mean different things to different people?