Island Beneath the Sea

What unique perspective and insights do we gain about Tété from the chapters she narrates in first person that we would not understand otherwise? How is the technique of first-person narration employed in this novel?

Identify one metaphor, simile, or other poetic device that Allende employs in the text. What purpose does it serve? Consider how it manifests in at least two different places in the novel.

Select a character from the novel who is based on a historical figure. How well does the character’s depiction in the novel align with the historical record?

Tété practices Voodoo, a religion that is often misunderstood today. Select and research one aspect of Voodoo mythology mentioned in the text. How does what you learned assist your understanding of the novel?

Select and analyze one scene that you think exhibits magical realism. What leads you to that conclusion? What role do the magical realist elements serve in the scene, and in the novel as a whole?

Valmorain cites Voltaire, Denis Diderot, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau as humanist thinkers whose arguments he finds less convincing since moving to Saint-Domingue. Read a sample from one or more of these writers’ works. Why might Valmorain have begun to question them?

Compare and contrast Gambo and Zacharie as foil characters.

What do the events leading up to and culminating with Rosette’s death reveal about society in New Orleans at that time?