Bring on the tough stuff - there’s not just one right answer.
- The Unvanquished was originally published separately as short stories, and the last chapter, "An Odor of Verbena," was written in order to tie them together. How does this publishing history affect the way the final product, the novel, reads?
- In The Unvanquished, how are men and women described, and how does each gender approach and understand war?
- How would the novel change if it were told by an omniscient, third-person narrator rather than from young Bayard Sartoris's point of view?
- The Unvanquished is different from many of Faulkner's works because it doesn't use the stream-of-consciousness narration he's famous for. How does the linear, straightforward style fit with the novel's themes?
- The novel is divided into not only chapters, but also numbered sections. What does that division do for your reading experience?
- While the events described in the novel are terrifying, for the most part, Faulkner doesn't spend too much time talking about fear. Do you think that Bayard ever feels fear? How do you know whether he does or not, and why do you think he does (or does not)?
- The Unvanquished is an action-packed novel, but has never been made into a movie. If you were to direct the film adaptation, whom would you cast as Bayard, Ringo, Granny, John, and Drusilla? We hear Benedict Cumberbatch is available for apparently every movie being made these days.
- At the end of the novel, Drusilla starts talking really poetically. In fact, after a lot of really realistic dialogue, she comes in sounding like someone from another planet. Why do you think that Faulkner switches up his style like that, and what is its effect on the reader?
- How do Bayard's views on revenge change throughout the novel?