We Were the Mulvaneys, by Joyce Carol Oates

Characters
Mulvaney Family	Others
Michael Sr. - father Corinne Hausmann – mother Mike Jr. “Mule” – oldest son Patrick “Pinch” Marianne “Buttons” Judd “Ranger” – youngest, narrator “It” happened in 1976	Zachary Lundt Mort – father Ethel Hausmann – cousin Marianne went to live with Green Isle Co-op: Abelove Penelope Hagstrom - poet Stump Creek Hill Animal Shelter and Hospital: Dr. Whitaker West – veterinarian Mt. Ephraim Country Club

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the paperback edition of the novel.

1. At the beginning of the novel (page 27), Corinne prided herself in not being “a mother who fussed over her children.”  Would things have turned out differently if she had paid more attention to the children?  Should she and Michael have known something had happened to Marianne? 
2. Lydia Bethune told Corinne about Marianne having trouble.   Did she do the right thing in telling Corinne?
3. Discuss Michael Sr. and the separation from his family when he argued with his father and left home.    As a result of that his father cut Michael out of the family’s life completely.   How do you think this influenced how Michael dealt with Marianne and the assault?
4. Marianne felt she was totally to blame for the assault.   Also, in 1979 she still felt that “she’d disappointed Corinne: every turn of her life since Valentine’s Day of 1976” (page 321).   Was there some way someone could have helped her?
5. Discuss how the Mulvaney’s “friends” reacted to the assault.  “Michael was sick not just with it…but with what he felt to be the betrayal of their Mt. Ephraim friends” (page 174).  Also, at Patrick’s graduation people “seemed now not to see them” (page 198).
6. Discuss Judd and his experience in the family.  In 1979 when Patrick was planning his revenge, Judd thought “What about me?” (page 289) and also directly asked Patrick “What about me?  I live there” (page 290).  How did Judd experience the family’s disintegration differently from his older siblings?
7. When Patrick was planning his revenge, he thought Zachary’s parents were also guilty, “Defending the rapist, slandering the victim” (page 293).  Do you agree?
8. Patrick was also surprised at Zachary’s reaction when he captured him.    “He didn’t want to think that his enemy, Zachary Lundt, whom he’d so long despised and in a way feared, was no more than this trembling whimpering boy who’d wet his pants” (page 297.  Were you surprised at both Zachary and Patrick’s reactions?
9. How do you explain Michael Sr.’s reaction and change in behavior? 
1. “God help me, Corinne, I can’t bear the sight of the girl any longer” (page 185).
2. “He’d banished Marianne from the household and from his life so that he could banish her from his thoughts” (page 225).
3. Letting the roofing business fail.
4. Poured beer in Judge Gerald Kirkland’s face at country club.
5. “Where always in the past Dad had been courtly to Mom…now he was indifferent, or rude; or worse (page 259).
10. Why did Corinne tell Patrick not to interfere with his sister on page 225?  Why did she not go visit her or invite Marianne to come home at least for a visit?  Why did she tell Marianne to stay away from her Grandmother’s funeral?
11. What did you think of Abelove?  Was he evil or good-hearted?
12. When Marianne was in charge of the Co-op’s chores, she managed them just like her mother managed the household when the children were little.  How did you assess Marianne’s skills in her various experiences after she left home?   What might she have done with her life if the assault in high school had not happened?
13. The novel was very grim except for the last chapter.   Did reading that everyone was happy in the end make you feel better?  Did the last chapter fit with the rest of the novel?  Will history repeat with the children?
14. The assault took place in 1976 and the novel was written in 1997.   How would it be different if the assault happened today?  Would the novel be different if it were written today?

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