A Spark of Light

The novel follows a large cast of characters and allows readers to enter into many different viewpoints. How does this technique shape the novel’s ideas and themes?

Joy and Janine are often paired throughout the text. In what ways are they different, and in what ways are they similar? How does this pairing relate to the novel’s thematic arc?

A Spark of Light is set in Mississippi. How does Picoult create the novel’s setting through description, mood, and dialogue? Use specific examples in your answer.

Several characters have strong religious convictions, including Louie, George, and Janine. Choose one of these characters and describe how their faith influences their life and actions, both for good and for ill.

George Goddard and Hugh McElroy are both single fathers of teenage girls. In what ways are the men similar? In what ways are they different? How do each of them approach parenting and fatherhood?

Bex is an artist who creates large images out of smaller ones, using Gestalt theory: “[T]he human eye—the human brain—did not have to see individual parts to imagine the whole” (214). How does Bex’s artwork and its preoccupation with parts and wholes, and details and the big picture, connect to the novel’s themes?

At the beginning of the novel, Wren wants to have sex for the first time so that she can become an adult. By the end, her ideas of what makes a person an adult have changed. Does Wren become an adult by the end of the narrative? What criteria does she need to meet to come of age?

Several of the characters have names that are symbolic or evocative: Hugh, Wren, Joy, and Ward, for example. Choose a character’s name and explain its deeper meaning, using details from the text.