- Who were your favorite characters? Why?
- How much autonomy did middling-class women have in the eighteenth century? To what extent could they control their own destiny?
- How much choice did middling-class women have in selecting their husbands? Did men have the same restrictions regarding their choice of wife?
- What role did fashion play in restricting middling-class women’s choices? For example, to what extent were women restricted by their ability to dress and undress themselves without assistance?
- When Captain Timothy Orne laid out his plan of marriage politics to Captain Richard Derby, did you get a sense of how shipping families kept control of business affairs?
- What social skills did the middling-class practice?
- What did you think of the food described in the story?
- What courting rituals did you observe?
- Did you think Mary Derby’s objections to George Crowninshield were logical? Were they understandable? Were you pleased or disappointed when she accepted George’s marriage proposal?
- Did you think George and Hasket were equally ambitious? Did they have the same barriers to overcome?
- How would you compare Mary and Eliza?
- How did Hasket’s courtship of Eliza differ from Geroge’s courtship of Mary?
- How did men’s goals differ from women’s aspirations?
- What did you think of matters relating to childbirth and parenting?
- What did you think about naming children after parents and relatives, including deceased siblings?
- What did you think of medical practices? Did physicians seem to have a clear understanding of health and hygiene?
- How important was privateering during the American Revolution?
- How did events leading up to the American Revolution affect the people of Salem? Do you think Mary Crowninshield’s fears and concerns were a valid response to events?
- Hasket Derby and his brother Richard had different visions for the new country being established. To what extent were they the same of different?
- What role did the continued conflict between France and Britain play in American commerce?
- What influences brought Nathaniel West into Hasket Derby’s employ? Do you think Captain West reached too high when he began to court Betsey Derby?
- Why do you think Betsey Derby married Nathaniel West? How did her family respond?
- Why and how did Nathaniel West become one of Hasket Derby’s ship masters?
- What did Hasket Derby send his son Elias to Isle de France? What did he hope to accomplish? How successful was Elias in achieving his father’s goal?
- As a young man, George Crowninshield looked forward to becoming a prosperous, independent merchant. Was his goal fulfilled by 1790?