February 22: Trevalyen, Cawnpore

1. The Cawnpore chapter relates the massacre of British women and children at the hands of Indian insurgents during the siege of the city of Cawnpore in 1857. Nana Sahib, the rebel Indian leader, and others had occupied the city. He orders the massacre just before British troops arrive and re-take the city. Trevalyen's history is a military one and thus largely concerned with the actions of men, both Indian and British. How does Trevalyen connote the character of the British soldiers that fought at Cawnpore? How are their actions different from those of the Indian rebels? For example, any scenes depicting British cowardice or fear? What about the examples of British cruelty and "savagery" that Trevalyen discusses at the end of the chapter? How does Trevalyen reconcile the fact of British savagery with their position as "civilized" people? Discuss the masculine character of British soldiers in relation to Indian rebels in Cawnpore.

February 24: Cawnpore; Tennyson, "The Defence of Lucknow"

1.  Though Cawnpore largely describes male British heroism, women also figure importantly in the narrative. Do European women have a role in determining the outcome at Cawnpore? What do the leftover items (described beginning on pg. 335) found after the British regained Cawnpore after the massacre--scraps of paper, bits of clothing, little notes--say about the character of the women who were killed? What function does the remembrance of the women serve for the attitudes of British soldiers near the end of Trevalyen's chapter? Does Cawnpore suggest a particular role for women in the colonies?  Discuss the depiction of British womanhood in Cawnpore.

February 26: Collins, The Moonstone (Read to Chapter 13 of "The Loss of the Diamond, pg. 143)

1. The mystical Moonstone has great importance, of course, in the novel of the same name. It is the catalyst that sets the plot in motion, the focus for much of character motive, and, for our purposes, a "colonial" artifact. How does the Moonstone get to the heart of Yorkshire from its exotic colonial origins? What function did it serve in Indian culture? What are the circumstances that surround its departure? What were the motives of the Englishman who removed it? What function does it serve in English culture? Discuss the "symbolism" of the Moonstone, both to Indians and to the English in the novel, and the circumstances by which it journeys from colonial India to England.

March 1: The Moonstone (Read up to Chapter Six of the First Narrative of "The Discovery of the Truth" pg. (284)

1.  Though many Victorian novels depict English living among native peoples in native lands, The Moonstone is one of the few Victorian novels to depict Indians actually living among the English in England. How well do the three Indians fit into English society? How are they characterized by English characters in the novel (e.g. Blake and Betteredge)? How do they look and dress? How does the novel describe the character and motives of the Indians? Why are they in England? Are Indians as successful in moving about English society as the English are in native society? Discuss the novel's depiction of the Indians in England.

March 3: The Moonstone (Read to the Third Narrative, pg. 339)

1.  The novel is replete with detectives, amateur and otherwise. The use, accumulation, and acquisition of knowledge in the pursuit of ending the mystery seems a prominent focus of the novel. Murthwaite seems to fit into this mold of the detective, but he is also special kind of detective, for his knowledge is of India and Indians. How does Murthwaite's so-called special knowledge of Indian ways aid in solving the mystery of the diamond? How are his pronouncements on Indian culture regarded by other characters? Discuss the special "Oriental" knowledge of Murthwaite and its role in unraveling the mystery of the Moonstone.

March 5: The Moonstone (Read to Chapter Eight of the Third Narrative, pg. 417)

1. Though the novel abounds in female characters, few seem actively involved in solving the mystery. What for example, compels Rachel to want to have nothing to do with the finding of the gem? Why does she take no active part in the deductive reasoning of many of the male characters? Why no women detective sin the novel? What precludes women in general from sleuthing in the novel? Is this a characteristic of only the individual women in the novel or of women in general, according to the novel? Discuss the lack of female detectives in the novel and its implications for female reasoning power in general.

March 8: The Moonstone (Read to the Fifth Narrative, pg. 484)

1. Much of what motivates the actions of the upper-class characters in the novel is the intense desire to avoid disgrace or even the appearance of disgrace in the eyes of upper-crust society. Rachel for example, exhorts both Blake and Ablewhite (for different reasons) not to bring shame on themselves or her and her family. Why is shame so destructive in upper-class English society? Why must one avoid the recriminations of others, even if one has done nothing wrong? Why does Blake's apparent "shame" force Rachel to reject him, even though she still loves him? Discuss the nature and effects of shame as it operates in upper-crust English society.

March 10: The Moonstone (Read to the end)

1.  At the very end of the novel, has justice been served? Is all right again in the English society of the novel? Does the return of the Moonstone to India suggest that Collins was sympathetic to the Indian desire to return the diamond? What is his attitude about the demise of Ablewhite? Is he critical of the Indians' action against Ablewhite? Should the Indians have been allowed to get away with what they did? Does the ending suggest either that Collins is a true-blue imperialist or critical of the colonial project, or neither? Discuss Collins overall attitude toward the Indians of the novel and of Indians in general in relation to colonial attitudes of his time.

March 12: Conan Doyle, The Sign of Four (Read to Chapter Four)

1. The Sign of Four introduces us to one of the most popular fictional characters of all time: Sherlock Holmes, a man seemingly obsessed with "the science of deduction." What sort of character is Sherlock Holmes? What about his drug use? What are his attitudes toward other human beings? Toward Watson? Any subtle clues to his own attitudes about race or class in the beginning of the story? Discuss the mind and motives of Sherlock Holmes in The Sign of Four.