Ella D'Arcy, "The Pleasure-Pilgrim" (1895)

1. What are similarities, if any, between this story and others you have read? Does the title carry any overtones of irony?
2. How is the reader expected to interpret the ending of this story? Are we supposed to reach any conclusions unavailable to the protagonists?
3. Can you describe the story's point of view? Whose opinions do we understand in greatest detail?
4. What seem to be the emotions and motivations of Campbell and Mayne? Of the "pleasure pilgrim"?
5. Does this story play on national stereotypes? What are we to infer are European and American national characteristics?
6. What seems to be the theme of this story? How are we expected to respond to the words and actions of Lulie Thayer? What information are we given about her life which may partly explain her behavior and emotional needs?
7. Are there humorous aspects to the account of the relationship of Lulie Thayer and Campbell? To Lulie's speeches?
8. In what ways may this be considered a "new woman" story? A modernist or realistic one? How does it differ from, for example, Hardy's "A Mere Interlude"?
9. Does the story offer any implied critique of Campbell's emotions or reactions? Why is he reluctant to accept Lulie's advances? What does she give as the grounds for her attachment to him? What does he give as the grounds for his unwillingness to believe her? According to the evidence of the story, were they well-suited to be companions?
10. What are some ironies assoicated with the story's shocking ending?
11. Are there elements of the situation about which you would have liked to know more? Is the ending clear, and if not, what may be the purpose of such indeterminacy?
12. Is this a well-told story? Why do you think it was highly admired by D'Arcy's contemporaries?
13. Could this story have been issued in 2000? Which aspects of the story seem specific to the century in which it was published? Are any of the issues it raises still relevant?