Wifedom: Mrs. Orwell's Invisible Life

Funder asserts that Eileen’s influence was instrumental to the creation of Orwell’s most famous work, 1984. In the notes at the end of the book is the full text of Eileen’s poem “End of the Century, 1984.” Compare the poem to a selection from Orwell’s 1984 and explain whether his writing after her death is still affected by her vision or her writing style.

Funder references Topp’s The Making of George Orwell and acknowledges that she is indebted to Topp’s biography for information that helped her to visualize and understand Eileen. However, Funder says both in the text proper and in her notes that she and Topp disagree on fundamental issues. Choose a selection of each biography, then compare and analyze each approach, arguing for which interpretation is more compelling and why.

A primary metaphor framing Wifedom is the woman in the magician’s black box. Write an essay analyzing both the initial story of the magician and Funder’s use of the metaphor in the other areas of the book. How does this metaphor help Funder to accomplish her broader philosophical purpose?

One of Funder’s main goals in Wifedom is to reverse the erasure of women’s impact that is characteristic of historical and biographical texts. Choose three minor women characters in the book and analyze Funder’s treatment of them. Be sure to consider Orwell’s various love interests and their effect on the narrative.

Funder spends a significant amount of time describing the movement of spies in the P.O.U.M office where Eileen worked during the Spanish Civil War. Write an essay that explains the purpose and effectiveness of the focus on the spies themselves.

Funder includes a couple of anecdotes near the end of the book that focus on writers H.G. Wells and Ernest Hemingway. Analyze these two anecdotes and decide whether they enhance or detract from the larger purpose of the book. What do these episodes reveal about the figures involved?

Funder visits Spain and Scotland in pursuit of further research on Orwell and Eileen. Reread these sections and explain how her description of her own experience enhances or detracts from the overarching ideas in the book.

Funder includes all of Eileen’s letters to Norah in their entirety. Read those letters independent of Funder’s interpretations. What does Eileen’s writing reveal about who she is and how she views the world? Based only on those letters, describe Eileen’s character. Do you fundamentally agree or disagree with Funder after carefully analyzing Eileen’s own writing?