Rosemary Daniell | Author
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. How would you describe Daniell's relationship with her mother? At what point does she begin a process of indivduation from her mother's notions of ideal Southern womanhood?
2. Discuss your perception of the repressive social conditions for women in the South in the past and today? Have things improved over time?
3. Why do you think Daniell titled her memoir "Fatal Flowers"?
4. Daniell's memoir opens and closes with her teaching creative writing to female prisoners in the South. What does she startingly reveal about how so many of these women ended up in jail and why she identifies with them? How does this make you feel?
5. Do you feel Daniell's protrayal of the conditions facing women in the South are particularly Southern? To what degree are they faced by women everywhere?
6. Why do you think Daniell weaves into her story numerous sketches of other women's lives? Which characters did you feel particularly strong about and identify with? How has the notion of Southern sisterhood played out in Daniell's life? In your's? How does the notion that Southern women are brought up to compete against one another for male attention dilute the benefits of female alliance?
7. Discuss instances in which Daniell measures her own blossoming as a woman against her mother's ideals? Do all women struggle with the dread of becoming like their own mother? What does Rosemary love about her mother?
8. Discuss how male-dominance in society leads women to feel that their existence is sexualized. Were you comfortable with the explicitness of Daniell's account of her violent sexual experiences early in her life?
9. As a teenager, Daniell is told by her mother that attractive women shouldn't have a "story," but rather be mysterious and coy. Do such ideas promote self-denial among demales and encourage a life of painful secrets? Do empowered women keep secrets?
10. Discuss the strong connection between Daniell's sexuality and her overall identity over the years? In your own life? What reaction did you have to her lesbian relationships? When and in what ways does society grant or deny liberated status to women who lead unapologetically sexual lives?
11. Daniell argues that the personal success for many Southern women is directly related to to how powerful and successful their husbands are? Do you think this is true?
12. What is it Daniell feels she has to forgive her mother for?
13. How have your preconceptions about Southern women and sexuality changed as a result of reading Fatal Flowers? Does the culture of the Southern belle still exist today?