Dark Companion (44 page)
Authors: Marta Acosta
11. Why do you think the author selected Paulette Jiles’s “Paper Matches” to introduce her novel? How does the poem relate to Jane and other characters, including the men who appear in brief scenes?
12. Jane has a strong friendship with Wilde and she develops relationships with other female characters. Describe some of these relationships and what significance they might have to an orphan.
13. Compare the scenes in which Lucky uses bloodletting apparatus on Jane to the drug paraphernalia Jane sees when she flees to Wilde’s place. She also sees a homeless person waiting to sell his blood at the plasma center. Is Jane’s understanding of these various situations similar or different?
14. Who is Mr. Mason? Is it important that he is a science teacher? What is important about his grief over Claire? How does he help Jane realize some of the life complications that can evolve from one’s Companion role?
15. As the novel draws to a close, the mystery of missing BB is clarified and Lucky confronts his father. Do you see Lucky as innocent or guilty? Redeemable or lost? Explain your answer.
16. What is the point Mrs. Radcliffe tries to make in the Night Terrors class? What might you and your classmates find useful or interesting about this class?
17. What finally makes Jane run away from Birch Grove? What draws her back?
18. Who is “The Lady of the Wood,” and what is the role of nature in the story? What is Jane? Does MV’s recital of Robert Frost’s “Birches” poem (page 105) or her reference to Shakespeare’s
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
(page 328) impact your answers? How do these literary allusions affect Jane?
19. The prologue of
Dark Companion
ends with the question, “who are we without our memories?” Later, in chapter eight, Hattie quotes Shakespeare to Jane, saying, “I love studying the past.… Whereof what’s past is prologue.” How can you understand
Dark Companion
in terms of these two notions?
20. At the end of the novel, Jane feels that Birch Grove is her home. Why does she feel this way? Do you think she is correct? How does this impact the choices she will make? What advice might you want to give Jane about her future?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marta Acosta was born in the San Francisco Bay Area. As the only daughter in a family of boys, she sought sisterly companionship in books.
She is a graduate of Stanford University, where she studied creative writing and literature. Her feature articles and commentary have appeared frequently in the
San Francisco Chronicle
and the Contra Costa Newspapers. She is a Steinbeck Institute honoree, a University of California Latino Literary Contest winner, and her debut novel,
Happy Hour at Casa Dracula,
was named a Book Sense Pick by independent booksellers.
Dark Companion
is her sixth novel.
Marta lives in a fog belt near Berkeley with her family and rescued dogs, Bosco and Betty.
Visit her online at
www.martaacosta.com
.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
DARK COMPANION
Copyright © 2012 by Marta Acosta
Reader’s Guide copyright © 2012 by Tor Books
All rights reserved.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to Paulette Jiles for the use of her poem “Paper Matches.”
Cover photograph © Yolande de Kort / Trevillion Images
A Tor Teen Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
Tor
®
is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
ISBN 978-0-7653-2964-6 (hardcover)
ISBN 9781429988292 (e-book)
First Edition: July 2012