The Greenlanders | Topics for Discussion & Projects

The Greenlanders Key Questions

Connections between The Greenlanders and either the modern world or Smiley's other works may seem initially tenuous. However, once one lifts the barrier between a fourteenth-century community and the twentiethcentury world, one finds many parallels exist both in the dilemmas characters face and the circumstances in which they find themselves.

1. How does the plight of the Greenlanders resemble that of marginal minority cultures in the contemporary world? Does their inability to adapt to changing circumstances doom them?

2. In what ways is The Greenlanders a critique of medieval Western Christianity? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Church?

3. What qualities does Smiley imply are crucial for a human culture to survive over many centuries?

4. How do the diminished expectations of the Greenlanders find parallels in Smiley's novella Good Will (1989) or the novel A Thousand Acres?