The two British men who work in Hollywood discussing how to recast the image of an actress named Juanita del Pablo is a scathing commentary on the disingenuous and manipulative nature of the Hollywood star-making system. After Sir Ambrose leaves and Dennis goes to work, it becomes clear that his job is at a pet cemetery. The services for a dead dog that he offers to its owners are a parody of human burial rites. The husband is willing to do whatever Dennis considers to be the most socially acceptable thing, showing that his interest is not in his pet but in what his peers might think of him.

1. Do you think the Hollywood system of star making is disingenuous and manipulative? Discuss, in depth, why or why not. Use examples from The Loved One and your own life to support your answer.

2. If everyone would know that the film system of making stars is false and manipulative, why do you think the general public still falls for the manipulation and supports the system? Use examples from The Loved One and your own life to support your answer.

3. How much of behavior in America do you think is based on doing what is socially acceptable? What types of behaviors might these be? Use examples from The Loved One and your own life to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss one of the following:

1. Thoroughly analyze how the setting informs the plot in The Loved One.

2. Trace and analyze one major theme of The Loved One. How is the theme represented by symbolism? By the characters' behaviors? By the action?

3. Trace and analyze two secondary themes of The Loved One. How are the themes represented by symbolism? By the characters' behaviors? By the action?

Essay Topic 3

Dennis reminds Aimee that she pledged her troth to him, and she is again thrown into a quandary. Her sense of honor will not allow her to go back on her word, and Dennis refuses to release her from the promise. Still, she knows that she could never marry him now, not only because of the hoax concerning the poems but because she considers his job to be beneath her dignity.

Dennis tries to wiggle out of his predicament by stressing a detail, which is that he never actually said the poems were written by him, and he is quite surprised to see that what works is the promise she made to him at the Lovers' Nook. Dennis is so removed from considerations of honor that he could not even conceive that Aimée's pledge would hold her. Indeed, his interest in the marriage increasingly looks like a game he wants to win, simply because winning is good. When a distraught Aimée telephones Mr. Joyboy, she gets exactly what she would have expected, had she been a more insightful person. He is busy with his mother, and it is not convenient for him to see her, even though he can tell that a visit from him is important to her.

1. Do you think Aimee's sense of honor is a positive or negative value? Why? Use examples from The Loved One and your own life to support your answer.

2. Discuss, in depth, what type of person Dennis must be to hold a woman to a pledge of marriage when she wants out and to look upon making her marry him as a game. Use examples from The Loved One and your own life to support your answer.

3. What should Aimee figure out from Mr. Joyboy putting his mother before her? What do you think Aimee should do about Mr. Joyboy and Dennis? Why do you think she does what she did? Use examples from The Loved One and your own life to support your answer.

(see the answer keys)

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