READERS GUIDE
Questions and Topics for Discussion
1. Edna is a formidable and imposing figure that looms large in Thomas’s life. How does her particular form of discipline and cultural taste shape Thomas’s later attachments to books, order, and rituals? Did you notice her influence upon his choices and behaviours later in life?
2. “As soon as I learned to, I steered clear of my grandmother. The less she saw of me, the more tolerable I was.” (p12) Discuss how childhood abuse is represented in the novel. What survival tactics does Thomas use to cope with the unpredictability of his upbringing?
3. Margaret Atwood writes in the introduction, “His life is filled with absences and blank spaces. What is left unsaid—in his world, and in ours as we read—is as important as what is voiced. How can Thomas even begin to know all that he doesn’t know?” How would you describe Thomas’s circumstances? What struck you as either typical or abnormal in his childhood?
4. Reflect on the difficulties of the road trip from Petrolia to Ottawa. What did the journey represent or foreshadow to you as a reader?
5. “It wasn’t a matter of trust. I trusted him less than I’d trusted my mother when she asked me to steal, but I believed Henry, believed the magistery was mysterious and powerful.” (p142) What do you believe Henry’s magistery represents to Thomas? Why does he find it entrancing or appealing?
6. Thomas describes his stealing in stages—from small objects to hiding Katarina’s clothes—while admitting he is secretly thrilled by the power of taking. As a reader, how did you interpret his thefts? Was it juvenile rebellion, a symptom of trauma, an assertion of agency, or something else?
7. Katarina appears at key moments in the novel: abandoning Thomas early, returning to take him away, then dying in Petrolia decades later. How does Childhood reflect both a sympathy for her restlessness as an individual, along with the realities of her unreliability as a mother?
8. Thomas repeatedly returns to books, chemistry, and methodical routines as places of safety. Discuss how his scientific work at Lamarck Labs and the act of writing the memoir function to repair the chaos of his youth.
9. “Henry was now the only person I knew whose memories of my mother somewhat coincided with my own.” (p239) How does Thomas reconcile his relationship with his mother and Henry throughout the novel?
10. “After all, I come from somewhere.” (p247) Discuss how themes of inheritance and identity are woven throughout Childhood. What does Alexis suggest about the lasting effects of our upbringings?
