Christian Watt's Memoirs, pp. 40-end

1. What were some of Christian's views of politics--including class differences, contemporary law, perquisities of middle-men, factors and lawyers?

Why do you think one of the Saltouns called her a "Tolpuddle Tory"? According to this account, was he correct?

What were her relations with members of the aristocracy? On what basis did she seem to get along with some members of the Saltoun family? Do you think her views were idosyncratic or consistent?

2. What were Christian's views on the subject of illegitimacy? What kind of contract began her relationship with her husband? What was her reaction on conceiving a child before formal marriage?

3. What seems to have been her attitude towards house ownership? What happened to 72 Broadsea over the years? How was it lost to her and how regained?

4. What were important features of her courtship? At what age did she marry? Why do you think she married James Sims rather than her previous suitors or a potential later one?

5. Why did she refuse to marry Peter Noble? What were the fates of her former suitors?

6. What were her evaluations of her marriage? What did the couple have in common, and on what issues were they divided? What circumstances killed Christian's first two sons and husband?

7. What events precipitated her first breakdown/ her second? What legal and social consequences resulted from her problem? What better circumstances, if any, do you think might have prevented her confinement to a mental institution? Can you tell what her attitude may have been toward being committed? (107)

8. How do you think her problems might have been treated by contemporary U. S. doctors? What do you think of the advice and aid given her in the Aberdeen asylum? Was she ever diagnosed as sane?

9. How did she respond to her first American experience? What are some ways she tried to support her family after James's death?

10. Which occupations did she engage in during her lifetime? What are some other occupations followed by her relatives and friends?

11. Are there instances in the book where she seems to hold more than one opinion on a topic? Do you think she evolved in her opinions, or changed her mind?

12. What circumstances in the fishing trade and other social changes seem to have contributed to the Sims' poverty? Why do you think she was never able to support her children after she was widowed?

13. Was she fortunate in her human relationships? How did other family members treat her? What were the characters and fates of her children? Did you find anything strange about her reaction to the death of her son Watt?

14. Why did she remain at the Asylum in later life? How and to what extent did she maintain her family life? Why did she later refuse to join her son James at 72 Broadsea?

15. What seems to have been the nature of her religion? At what points in her life did she have epiphanic religious experiences? What effect did her beliefs have on her life? How did she feel about her son's secular marriage?

16. Which features of her religion seemed conventional for their time, and which were unusual or idiosyncratic? Did her beliefs help her deal with her strong condemnations of those in authority?

17. What attitudes does she express toward the wars she experienced--the Crimean War, the Franco-Prussian War, the Boer War and the First World War? What effects did they have on the people she knew? Do you think her views are generally consistent with those of modern historians?

18. What do you see as some consistent aspects of her character? What do you make of such incidents as the attacking of someone who tried to cheat her, or the desire to confront the church over the birth of an illegitimate child?

19. On which occasions does she seem to show generosity with her property, and on what grounds does she seem to make those decisions?

20. What are her views on gender relations in marriage, women's suffrage, child labor, and soldier's pensions? Had she been able to do so, how do you think she would have voted?

21. What does she remark on about the mental patients in the Asylum and their treatment? What were G. P. I.'s (113)?

22. How may the fact that she tells her story from the vantage point of extreme old age have affected aspects of her narration? Are there aspects of her experiences that are treated briefly or imperfectly, and if so, why may this be the case?

23. What attitudes does she express towards Negroes? Jews? Other different ethnic groups and languages in her region?

24. What are some features of the social world presented in the illustrations?

25. What does she see as important social/economic changes which affected her and others in the nineteenth century? What does she see as important changes in the early twentieth century? Which, if any, of these changes does she consider to be improvements?

26. As her account ends, what are Christian's final observations and hopes? To what extent do you think her life and account achieves a sense of peace and closure?

27. What are some of your reflections after reading this book? Has it changed or extended your views about everyday non-middle-class life in the nineteenth-century, and the writings of minimally educated people?