Reader's Den

June in the Reader's Den: Time and Again by Jack Finney - Office 2, Discussion Questions

"It had become habit, leaving the Dakota, to walk out and back into the wintertime of 1882."

Welcome dorsum to the Reader'due south Den! I promise you lot enjoyed taking a trip to the New York of 1882 along with Si Morley, the protagonist in Jack Finney's classic 1970 novel, Time and Again. If you've been reading the volume, why non share your thoughts with us through the comments form at the end of the post? There are some discussion questions (which include a few spoilers!) that tin can be used as a starting point, simply don't feel obligated to stick to them. Please feel free to comment on any character, scene or attribute of the volume that interests yous.

For example, I was intrigued by Si'south exposure to 1880s era food, which, we are told, had so much more season than the processed and packaged food of 1970, sentiments that are normally expressed today by organic and local food enthusiasts but would have been heard less frequently forty years ago. And the financier Carmody's explanation to Pickering of his leveraged economic circumstances could not take sounded more familiar to 21st century Americans. Other things, such every bit the revolting spittoons and tobacco juice stains to be found everywhere or the warm, familial temper of the Gramercy Park boarding house conspicuously belong to a foretime New York. In the previous post, I asked if you found Jack Finney's portrayal of life in 1882 overly nostalgic. What's your verdict? Here are some other questions to consider:

  • How would you lot categorize Time and Once again? Is the novel primarily science fiction, mystery, thriller, historical romance? Which elements appealed to y'all virtually?
  • Old General Post Office And U.S. Courts., Digital ID 809382, New York Public Library The erstwhile Full general Post Office, where Jake Pickering mails the letter to Carmody. NYPL Digital Gallery Fourth dimension and Once again is an illustrated novel. How did Finney's inclusion of actual period photographs and drawings, ostensibly created by Simon Morley, affect your experience of the novel?
  • In improver to the illustrations, Finney'southward descriptions of New York in 1882 are highly detailed. Were there any particular moments, places or characters in the 1882 scenes of the novel that y'all establish particularly vivid and emblematic of the time?
  • "And when you awake, everything you know of the twentieth century volition exist gone from your mind... At that place are no such things as automobiles, no planes, computers, television. 'Nuclear' appears in no lexicon. You accept never heard the proper name Richard Nixon." What references, dialogue or other details that reveal 1970s attitudes or cirsumstances did yous notice as y'all read?
  • Riding in a streetcar for the showtime time, Si remarks to the commuter, "There ought to exist traffic lights." Naturally, the homo from the late 19th century has no idea what he means. What anachronistic comments or suggestions do you think you might make on a journey to the past? How would you set for such a trip?
  • Fifth Avenue in 1879, looking south., Digital ID 465504, New York Public Library Croton reservoir: Fifth Avenue in 1879, looking due south. NYPL Digital Gallery During the aforementioned ride downwards 5th Avenue, Si notes sites and landmarks in "a metropolis now completely familiar to [him] and at present completely different." He is momentarily bewildered when confronted with the Croton Reservoir on 42nd Street instead of the New York Public Library edifice (completed in 1911) he had unconsciously been looking for. While Si is missing what has however to built, when Julia travels frontward to 1970, she is dismayed by the loss of iconic buildings in her New York. What present mean solar day New York landmarks would you most miss if you traveled dorsum to 1882? Or to 1970? What places define the metropolis for y'all?
  • "Considering no matter how I tried or how complete the detail, I couldn't give them the essence of what had happened to me; the mystery remained." (Affiliate 11) If you were participating in Si's debriefing after his first extended visit to 1882, what would you near desire to ask him?
  • Grand Central Depot Showing Elevated Railroad, N.Y., Digital ID 801531, New York Public Library The quondam Grand Central Depot, where Si and Julia evade the "Keystone" cops. NYPL Digital Gallery Si experiences magical moments in the past, such as the spellbinding sleigh ride through Central Park after the snowstorm, and so during his chat with the streetcar driver in Chapter 17, he learns something of the harsh realities of life for the less fortunate inhabitants of the city. How does this modify his feel of the time. What effect, if any, does this have on his mission?
  • How does the mode of time travel used in Time and Once again compare to those used in other stories? If you could hypnotise yourself into another time, what era would you cull to visit?
  • Why do you lot remember Simon Morley is such an proficient time traveler compared to others who have tried?
  • If yous were role of the meeting to make up one's mind the hereafter of the fourth dimension travel project (Affiliate sixteen), would you back up Dr. Danziger's position that whatever hazard of altering the smallest event in the past was too dangerous, or would you subscribe to Colonel Esterhazy and Rube Prien's "twig in the stream" view? What nearly their subsequent decision to subtly change the form of history in a style favorable to the U.S.?
  • Were you lot satisfied by the ending and by Si'southward concluding intervention? What is your prediction for Si and Julia'southward future?'

You've finished reading Time and Again and take been forced to leave a cold winter in 1882 and return to a hot New York summer in 2013. At present what? Please melody in for the Part 3 mail, which will offering further reading suggestions, whether y'all're looking for another great period New York novel, a fourth dimension travel run a risk or some historical background. Thank you for stopping by the Reader's Den!