Last set of questions for True Believer! Answer two as normal, and we'll see what we think of the book when we return on Thursday. Also, the two options for Paper #2 are posted below this post in case you lose them.
Q1: In Chapter 69, LaVaughn has the existential crisis which is inevitable for all teenagers: “Everything is tragic./Why didn’t anybody ever tell me that before?” (211). Though she is surrounded by death and tragedy her entire life, what makes her finally see it as a real presence in her life?
Q2: Myrtle and Annie never see the extreme views of their church for what they are, and indeed, inform LaVaughn that "you get all good chances/with your new classes, but you don't know/it might be Satan getting you" (240). Since LaVaughn's perspective is limited to what she knows and feels, how does Wolff let us know that LaVaughn's experience at school and with Dr. Rose isn't merely a secular 'cult' that offers her the same identity and answers as her friends? What makes her journey seem 'right' to us, even though to her friends (and probably to many in her school) it's wrong and even deluded?
Q3: In Chapter 80, LaVaughn writes that “I’m a true believer./And that’s a fact” (243). Since it’s also the title of the book, what do you think she means by this? Since she doesn’t really believe in God and sees the world as very unfair and tragic, what does she believe in?
Q4: Note how much in this book is said "with the eyes" and not with words. At the end of the novel alone, "Annie looks over at me and says with her eyes and her head/in code, as we have always spoken" (262), and when Jody looks at her at the end of the book, "The look is quick as a blink" (264). Why are eyes/seeing so important to LaVaughn in this novel? Does it have anything to do with who she is, and when she is (a teenage girl)?
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