Glass Sword

In Chapter 26, when Cameron tortures the Silver prison guards, Mare thinks that revenge is Cameron’s right after how she was treated. Do you agree or disagree with Mare’s perspective? Why? Explore the ideas of “might makes right” and “an eye for an eye.” How do those concepts apply to Cameron or to any revenge? Does either of these concepts influence your initial opinion of justified revenge? Why or why not?

Examine the messages Glass Sword delivers about similarities, differences, and how we treat others based on how we perceive them in relation to ourselves. What is conveyed about equality and common ground by how the characters treat those who are like and not like them? How might Glass Sword have gone differently without the division between the Reds and newbloods at the Scarlet Guard island base? Do you think the Red dislike of newbloods feels justified? Why or why not? Support your answer with evidence from the text.

In Chapter 25, Mare realizes how powers can be used for creation and destruction. Choose three newblood and/or Silver powers from the story world, and detail at least one way each may be used for something positive and something negative. Why did you choose the powers you did? What did you learn about individual abilities from this exercise?

Consider what Mare says about the different parts of herself that’ve died or been created. Do you see multiple versions of Mare in Glass Sword? What versions do you see, and how does each contribute to the story? Apply Mare’s words to yourself. What did you learn about who you are now, who you’ve been, and who you might become?

Jon tells Mare that her destiny is to rise alone. Do you think this message influences how Mare acts and makes decisions from that point in the story onward? Choose three decisions or actions Mare took after Chapter 21 and explore if and how she might have chosen or acted differently without Jon’s prediction. How might the story have changed, if at all? What do Jon’s prediction and Mare’s actions say about how knowledge influences us?

Do you understand why Mare kept the letters from Maven? Why or why not? Why do you think she keeps the letters, and how might the book have been different if she hadn’t kept them? Does Cal’s reaction to the letters feel justified? What does Cal and Mare’s argument about the letters suggest about healthy and unhealthy relationships? Support your answer with evidence from the text.

The book’s major theme of Differences Are Not “Wrong” explores how Mare is conditioned to believe she’s “abnormal” because she’s a Red with Silver powers. Apply this type of assigning wrongness to real life. How do the concepts explored in Glass Sword relate to situations where one group believes they are “right” and another group’s existence is “wrong?” Can the lessons and understanding promoted in Glass Sword be used to better understand how the institutions of racism, sexism, and other discriminatory belief systems begin and how they might be overcome?

Examine the mental prisons that Mare traps herself in throughout the book. What do these prisons say about self-blame, trauma, and how we view ourselves in the world? Do you agree with the blame Mare places upon herself for past deaths, suffering, and Silver oppression? Why or why not? If so, what makes these things her fault, and is her mental prison warranted? If not, who is at fault, or is the blame split between Mare and other parties? Support your answer with evidence from the text.