Pulitzer Book Club Inclusion Guide
"In This Our Life"
by Ellen Glasgow
INCLUSION MILESTONES
1942
• Rosie the Riveter celebrates women working in factories
• Nakashima learns traditional Japanese furniture making in Idaho internment camp
AUTHOR INSPIRATIONS
Glasgow grew up wealthy, with fragile health, and nine siblings. She lived and wrote in an old Greek Revival house in Richmond, Virginia. Never married, Glasgow is said to have rejected a proposal, been engaged to a gubernatorial candidate, had an affair with a married man, and lived for 30 years with Anne Virginia Bennett. Dog-loving Glasgow was a founder of the Richmond SPCA and member of the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia.
GET THE BOOK
Featured Reader Wanted!
Featured Reader
– Share your key take-away about inclusion in this book in a sentence or two.
– Write a paragraph or two (up to 250 words) to describe your thoughts on exclusion/inclusion in the book, why you related or did not connect with the book, and why you think reading, inclusion and dialog about inclusion matter.
– Identify the name and website address of a cause you support with an inclusive mission.
Pretty, selfish 20-something destroys family, husbands, child, young black man’s future.
Bride-to-be skips town a couple days before wedding; her brother-in-law also MIA.
Toxic people and their wake of abuse, sadness and harm.
Reads longer than 467 pages
Pity not helpful. Neither is excusing bad behavior.
Off-the-charts racism, including attempt to frame young black man for DUI hit-and-run manslaughter.
Class family class differences; working class drudgery.
Rich uncle spoils pretty, flawed niece.
People trying to be good being trampled by the selfish and mean spirited family members. Loveless marriages.
Backdrop: economic turmoil, mental illness, alcoholism.
Impersonal tobacco conglomerate pays low wages, in contrast to former family-owned business.
Rise of Russian workers; liberal ideas "crackpot."
You worked all day, had a long commute, are tired, and come home to scraps: a slice of corned beef and a sodden heap of potatoes and spinach. Meal paltry and cold because no microwave, motivation, or help. No milk for you; instead, warm it and deliver it to your nasty, hypochondriacal partner who won’t get out of bed.
“Don’t women still suffer in the wrong marriage?” “Not if they have any sense. Nothing can ruin your life so long as you’re free to get up and run away.”
First, park in front of a lovely classic home and think about why you don’t live there and the fact that it will be raised. Your ultimate destination is a dreary box just like the neighbor’s, complete with depressing lighting and sad yard. One bright spot is nice wallpaper. Beware of imperious woman upstairs who will require attention at inopportune time and complain if you get noisy, and hope to God your sister doesn’t return.
Do you think blatant racism in this novel is meant to reflect the early 1940s mentality, and/or is it author’s mindset?
Talk about the way the black family interacted with each other, including defense of “old ways,” views toward employer, and advice for son who wants to be a lawyer.
Who should help a young people pursue the educational and career path they desire and how they could/should be involved?
Describe the mental illness in the novel and how it could have been addressed.
How did characters deal with a toxic family member or spouse? What were their options?
What does this novel say about justice?
How did money/poverty/alcohol shape relationships in the novel?
Did this novel give you any insights about marriage, pity, grief, suicide, or interacting with people who are suffering?
Go see a marriage counselor. Or head to Richmond where you can visit the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia, do a walking tour of historic homes, check out The Branch Museum of Architecture and Design, buy a red hat, and take a cooking class.
In This Our Life (1942).
The Woman Within (1954), Glasgow’s memoirs, were published posthumously. Beyond Defeat, the epilogue to In This Our Life was published in 1966. In This Our Life was the last of the twenty novels written by Glasgow. She wrote three comedies that examined the decay of Southern aristocracy -- The Romantic Comedians (1926), They Stooped to Folly (1929), and The Sheltered Life (1932) -- and a series of novels set in the mid 1880s and beyond in Virginia.