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3. The Golden Notebook has been hailed as one of the founding novels of the women’s
movement. By titling the sub-novel in The Golden Notebook, “Free Women”, Lessing
seems to be making claims about what freedom is or would be for women. In “Free
Women”, are Anna and Molly free? How so and how not? What would the life of “free men”
look like, and how and why would their freedoms be different?
4. Anna maintains four notebooks (red, yellow, black, and blue) that she then synthesizes in
the golden notebook. One central task in the development of the self or identity is the
integration of separate aspects of the self and/or moments in time. Discuss what four
notebooks you might keep about yourself and your life. Then discuss how it would look for
these notebooks to become synthesized into one golden notebook of your own. Also
address whether at this point in your life this sort of integration would promote healing or
anxiety.
5. To Lessing, and to many readers, the most important and revolutionary aspect of The
Golden Notebook is its structure. How did you experience the structure of The Golden
Notebook? What effect did the structure of the book have on you? What did the structure
communicate about individual development and mental health?
6. In different ways, Molly, Anna, or Marion are portrayed as bad mothers. What sort of
mothers do you think they are? How do they compare to the sort of mother you did or did
not have? What is your idea of a successful mother, and does this mother do what is best
for her children, herself, or both (if this is possible)? Would you define a successful father
in the same way?
7. How would you characterize Anna’s romantic and sexual relationships with men? How do
these relationships reflect upon Anna or upon the men? What do you think will happen to
Anna? How are Anna’s relationships similar to or different from the “Hooking Up” culture
that characterizes college campuses in the 21st Century?
8. What is life like for Janet? What would it be like to have a mother grappling with Anna’s
questions? Is your mother a feminist?
Outline the history of motherhood in the United States and address the following
questions: What do we know about how expectations for mothers have changed over the
past 250 years? How does this historical perspective influence your opinion about what
exactly a good mother is? What will the expectations of motherhood look like in 50 years?
10. One of Anna’s central concerns was politics. Are politics important to you? If so, how so?
If not, why do you think women today may be less concerned with politics than were Anna
and Molly?
11. Describe Anna’s relationship with Saul Green. Does this relationship contribute to her
breakdown or to her breakthrough, or both? How so?
12. If people are indeed fragmented and compartmentalized, then is a breakdown necessary
for a breakthrough? How else might a person integrate various aspects of their lives? Do
the adults in your life seem integrated or compartmentalized?
13. In the 1971 introduction, Lessing argues that no one should read a book at the wrong time
and that readers should put down any book they find boring or skip over parts they do not
like. How do you feel about this advice? If you followed this advice, would you have
finished The Golden Notebook? What was your experience of reading The Golden
Notebook?
14. Do the struggles of Anna, Molly, and Marion seem relevant today? What can women in the
21st Century learn from the three women?
15. Did you find the final “golden notebook” to be satisfying? Was Anna able to synthesize the
parts of her life in a way that seemed healthy? Was this a “happy ending” and, if not, what
does this say about women’s place in society?
Online and Additional Resources
For a chapter by chapter summary of The Golden Notebook:
http://www.impatientreader.com/html/goldennotebookmy60daystruggle.html
For a review of The Golden Notebook:
http://www.critiquemagazine.com/article/goldennotebook.html
For information about Doris Lessing:
http://www.dorislessing.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doris_Lessing
Other Works by Doris Lessing
Alfred and Emily
Ben, In the World
The Cleft
A Four-Gated City
The Grandmothers
The Grass is Singing
Going Home
In the Pursuit of English
Landlocked
Love Again
Mara and Dann
Martha Quest
A Proper Marriage
Prisons We Choose to Live Inside
A Ripple From the Storm
Story of General Dann and Mara's Daughter, Griot and the Snow Dog
The Sweetest Dream
Time Bites
Under My Skin
Walking in the Shade