Your Summer Assignment
Prior to New Student Orientation in August, you should read the entire book. While you read, you may want to consider the following questions:
- Throughout Half a Life, Darin grapples with experiencing "real" grief and "performing" as others would expect him to. Is there a moment when he has an authentic experience of grief? How do people differentiate between "socially acceptable" displays of emotions and what they actually feel?
- Darin's car accident sets him apart from his friends and family. This feeling of isolation becomes central to his identity. Should it?
- As Darin matures and begins to make friends and date, he receives a wide variety of responses to his story. As you begin your college career, how can your honor your story and the stories of others?
- Celine's mother challenges Darin to live for two. What phrases or ideas from others have woven into your identity and settled in your soul?
- The impending lawsuit becomes a nameless terror for Darin—his lack of control over its timing and its outcome renders him powerless. What resources does Darin draw on to provide him peace of mind?
- In many ways throughout the text, Darin seeks forgiveness – from Celine's family members, from his peers, from his own family, from the court system, and ultimately, from himself. Would the storyline have changed if any of these individuals had truly forgiven Darin?
- Darin's journey from high school to college is especially dramatic and traumatic. Most people experience significant transition moving from one stage of life to the next. Consider your transition and that of your friends. In what ways is your transition similar to Darin's? In what ways is it remarkably different?
- Darin describes feeling that starting college was like entering "witness protection" in terms of forging a new identity. As you start Marquette, you too are afforded an opportunity and a challenge: what are the things that you want to define you and what are the things you want to leave behind?
- Imagine yourself in Darin's shoes. How would you have responded in this situation? In what ways would you have behaved similarly? What would you have handled differently?
First Year Reading Program
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BIG Questions |
