Exodus

More about the Book

Exodus RGG.pdf

1. How does the concept of home play a role in the book? Why has Candleriggs named all the Treenesters after places from the drowned world? How does Mara feel when she gives the urchins names from Wing? Do you think the people struggling to survive in the seas below the sky cities would prefer the New World to the places they left behind? Why or why not?

2. Why are the people of Wing afraid to face their future? What do they risk and lose by ignoring Tain’s warnings? Why do you think they eventually listen to Mara when she publicly agrees with Tain?

3. When Mara voices surprise that the Treenesters have done nothing to save themselves from drowning, Gorbals replies, “‘We live our lives and watch for the signs of whatever will happen. It’s all we can do’” (134). How does this attitude mirror the islanders’ unwillingness to leave Wing? Is the fear to leave home universal? What about the reluctance to face change? Why is Mara able to overcome these fears?

4. What role does faith play in Exodus? At the beginning of the book, Tain tells Mara that “‘there’s no great miracle going to save us’” (10). How does this sentiment relate to the Treenesters’ belief that Mara is the Face in the Stone? Is it Mara’s fate to help those the New World left behind?

5. Fox tells Mara that in the New World, “‘The past is banished. It’s been deleted. All anyone ever thinks of is here and now. There is only the power of now’” (262). Why don’t the Grand Fathers of All want their people to study history? What is the value of learning about the past?

6. When so many of Wing’s inhabitants die on the way to New Mungo, Mara feels a huge sense of guilt. Are these losses Mara’s fault? How does she cope with her feelings? When Fox tells Mara that because he knows the truth it is his duty to share it, he says, “‘If I don’t stand against it, then I’m part of it. . . .Caledon’s cruelty becomes mine. From this point on, for the rest of my life, I’ll be guilty too’” (274). How do Mara and Fox’s feelings of responsibility impact their actions?

7. At the end of the book, the supply ship is almost capsized by other refugees anxious to escape the horrors of the floating city outside New Mungo. Mara feels an impulse to save herself and her friends, rather than risk their safety and help the others. How does this experience help Mara understand the strict rules of the New World? How far will people go to protect themselves?

8. There are three distinct places mentioned in Exodus: the New World, realworld, and the Weave. When Mara first speaks to Fox in the Weave, she asks how to find the sky cities in “realworld” (34). After Mara finally reaches New Mungo, does she still consider the New World “real?” In what ways are citizens of the New World unaware of realworld? How is it important that Mara and Fox are the only two characters in the book who have experienced all three locations? What did they learn in each space?

9. Knowledge is both revered and reviled in Exodus. Why is Candleriggs so against the Treenesters reading books or visiting the museum in the drowned city under New
Mungo? When Mara explores the university, what does she learn about the world’s past? Does she find hope in the books she locates there? How does she remind Candleriggs that knowledge itself is never to blame? What point do you think the author is trying to make about how people interpret facts today?

10. When Broomielaw shows Mara her sunpower mosaic, Mara is struck with the thought that there were few women represented in the ancient museum. She realizes that “their dreams had become all tangled up with the knit of ordinary life” (169) and urges Broomielaw to continue her special work. Is Mara ever delayed from her purpose by day-to-day survival? How does Mara’s gender change her journey? Do you think she will continue to fight for the refugees’ future on the front lines or will she take a secondary role like Broomielaw does?

11. In many ways Exodus is a cautionary tale. Mara comes to a disturbing conclusion when discussing the past with Gorbals. She says, “‘Our ancestors stole our future’” (174). What is the author trying to tell us? What do we owe to our planet? What do we owe to future generations? If Mara could go back and speak with people in our time, what do you think she would say? Do you think anyone would listen?

12. Exodus is the first book in a trilogy. What do you think will happen next in the story? Why?