Hannah appears on the surface to promote a feminist ethic, advocating that women define themselves rather than letting others do it for them. At the same time, Annie finds her inner self in caring for Nick's family and bearing another child, and these are the activities she seems to find most fulfilling. Whether or not Annie truly challenges traditional roles and undergoes significant change is a subject likely to engender controversy among students. Furthermore, Annie's changes may strike some readers as less convincing because of cliched writing and implausible plot twists, while others are willing to overlook those because of the familiar experiences the story taps into and the familiar emotions it evokes. The novel can serve as a springboard for a discussion on what makes some literary manipulations more effective than others, and what, finally, constitutes good literature.

1. Is Annie a feminist heroine? In what...