Nana

Consider the motif of performance in the novel. Which character’s public persona is most performative, and why? Who performs their role the best, and why?

Does any of Nana’s behavior cross a line and become actually inexcusable? If so, why? If not, why not?

Consider the crowd scenes of Chapters 1-4. Zola must have known that most readers would not be able to remember distinguishing characteristics of all these people, so why do you think he chose to include so many secondary characters? What purpose or purposes do they serve?

Discuss the novel’s many moments of humor, both situational comedy and funny lines of dialogue. How does humor function in the novel?

Why did Zola open the novel with Fauchery’s and La Faloise’s perspectives, given that both of these men exist as peripheral rather than central characters throughout most of the book?

Fauchery writes a biting condemnation of Nana for the Figaro, comparing her to a fly. Does Zola want readers to agree with Fauchery? Why or why not?

Compare and contrast the background relationships between upper class men and Nana’s sex worker/actress friends. Why did Zola include them? How do they reinforce the novel’s themes?

Why do you think Rose Mignon has a change of heart, staying by Nana’s side during her death despite the risk to Rose’s own life?