58 pages • 1 hour read
Dennis LehaneShutter Island
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2003A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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Teddy and Cawley offer two interpretations of the events that unfold around Teddy Daniels in Shutter Island. Teddy believes he is a U.S. Marshal who is trying to expose the truth about Ashecliffe Hospital. Cawley, on the other hand, believes Teddy is actually Andrew Laeddis, a delusional murderer who went insane after his wife killed his children. Which version of reality seems most likely? Explain.
Teddy and Cawley’s characters change significantly throughout the novel. By the end of Shutter Island, which man is the novel’s protagonist, if the novel has a protagonist at all?
How does violence, both past and present, shape the characters of Shutter Island?
Cawley reveals that Andrew Laeddis killed his wife after she drowned his three children. Are Andrew’s actions justifiable? Explain.
Shutter Island explores the subconscious mind through Teddy’s dreams. Why does Lehane use Teddy’s dreams, instead of his investigation, to reveal the truth?
How does Shutter Island portray mental illness, and is that portrayal fair? Explain.
Shutter Island jumps between Teddy’s flashbacks to the past and his experiences of the present. How would Shutter Island be different if it were told in chronological order?
Lehane’s novel is concerned with the ways people’s perceptions affect reality and their ability to know the truth. After reading Shutter Island, does Lehane think that a person can ever really know the truth?
Both Cawley and Sheehan explain that competing theories about mental health treatment have thrown the field into a “‘war’” (345). Discuss how Lehane uses that conflict to show the tension between progress and the past.
The element of water appears throughout Lehane’s novel in many different forms (the ocean, the rain, etc.). Compare and contrast the symbolic meaning of three forms of water in the novel.
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By Dennis Lehane
