Trust

Trust features an unconventional structure that calls attention to the artificiality of narrative. What are the thematic implications of this unconventional structure—what point is Diaz making in highlighting this artificiality? Consider the interplay of different genres, including narrative fiction, autobiography/memoir, and diary.

Consider the use of literary devices such as omission, stream of consciousness, and rhetoric in My Life and Futures. Does the unpolished, unfinished style of these books make them feel more or less trustworthy than the other two books? Why?

Partenza experiences vertigo numerous times in the first part of A Memoir, Remembered. In what contexts does she experience vertigo; are there specific triggers that appear to induce it? Pay attention to the use of language and setting in these passages; how do these devices establish an environment that relates to her vertigo?

Childhood loss factors quietly into the personalities of the main characters, including Rask/Bevel, Helen/Mildred, and Partenza. Each of these characters loses a loved one at a young age and seems to turn inward as a result. How do these losses ramify in their adult lives? How do they attempt to escape these losses, and how do they attempt to deal with them?

In Trust, there is an interplay between characters and their fictional counterparts. Choose either Rask/Bevel or Helen/Mildred and compare and contrast their similarities and differences between the different books in Trust. Consider the use of style in establishing a hierarchy between the original character and their fictional counterpart: For example, are you more likely to believe Mildred’s journal reflects her true self or that Vanner’s depiction of her as Helen does? Does fiction capture something that nonfiction doesn’t in the portrayal of these characters?

Both Helen and her father, Leopold, experience lapses in mental health. Analyze the conditions preceding their crises: What influence does their environment have on affecting these conditions?

Consider the use of setting in characterizing wealth and luxury. What do the trappings of wealth say about the nature of wealth itself?

Trust is a postmodern novel. What does its metafictional style say about the nature of narrative truth? What narratives are you more likely to believe or disbelieve? Why?