Essay Questions

Ghosts are a prevalent topic in The Glass Hotel. Show how the theme of ghosts and guilt is presented and the particular role that the ghosts play in the novel

The writer employs the use of ghosts in the particular presentation of the guilt, dereliction and fault. In this presentation, the writer uses the ghosts to create an atmosphere and environment in which the porosity of reality can be avidly presented and characters given the ability to see the dead. For instance, the manifestations of ghosts in the lives of both Paul and Johnathan is an expression of the guilt that the characters face as a result of the crimes and harm that they had done in their lives. In this way, the characters become essentially haunted.

Show how fraudulent lifestyles can lead to virtually tragic consequences using characters in the novel The Glass Hotel.

In the novel, Johnathan runs a well known and internationally recognized fraudulent scheme. This scheme basically involves the virtual transfer of funds between the accounts of his clients ranging from retirement benefits as well as life savings. On the other hand, Vincent involvement in the life of Johnathan results in her disappearance without a trace from the decks of a container ship. Johnathan’s fraudulent lifestyle ultimately results in his imprisonment and subsequent haunting with ghosts of the individuals that he had harmed in his life. The novel is thus, essentially the writer’s way of discouraging fraudulent lives.

Paul as a character is unlucky. Is this assertion correct? Explain.

First, Paul is brought out as being quite lonely as a student while at the University of Toronto. His string of bad luck begins when he gives some tablets to people that he wishes to befriend while at a nightclub and one of them dies. Paul is thus forced to flee and live with his step-sister, Vincent. After five years, both Paul and sister are working at a hotel when some graffiti is noticed for which Paul is fired despite not being responsible for the same. In this way, Paul can be argued as being unlucky as explained by this string of events.