Reading Circle

Reading Guide Discussion Questions

1. On P. 148 Liir asks ‘Are the mighty deserving of thrones’? How would you answer this question?

2. How does evil manifest itself in SON OF THE WITCH?

3. On P. 159 Shell says ‘Martyrdom implies a religious faith’ – would you agree?

4. The Service opens with these lines: ‘A notion of character, not so much discredited as simply forgotten, once held that people only came into themselves partway through their lives’. What do you think is meant by this?

5. Were you surprised by the ending of SON OF A WITCH?

6. ‘No magician in the world had yet mastered the art of prophecy, so far as Liir knew.’ Would you like to know what the future holds?

7. ‘The colossal might of wickedness… how we love to locate it massively elsewhere. But so much of it comes down to what each one of us does between breakfast and bedtime.’ Is this really true? Can this statement be related to the characters in SON OF A WITCH? Could they have behaved differently?

8. ‘The workings of the human heart could be as various and imperturbable as the workings of human communities.’ In what way are events in Maguire’s Oz reflected in today’s world?

9. How are religion and magic portrayed by Maguire?

10. ‘A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true spirit, restore their government to its true principles.’ Thomas Jefferson, 1798. Discuss the true principles of government in the Land of Oz.