Question: Consider the primary female characters in Omeros:  Maud Plunkett and Helen. To what extent are they examples of what De Beauvoir calls "independent woman"? 

1. Consider the primary female characters in Omeros:  Maud Plunkett and Helen. To what extent are they examples of what De Beauvoir calls "independent woman"?  You may discuss other female characters in the poem if you wish but be sure to address Maud and Helen in your answer.

2. Consider the issue of race within Omeros.  To what extent is Du Bois's concept of double consciousness a useful tool to think through the treatment of race within the poem?

3. Major Plunkett brought Maud to St. Lucia after the war in part because he thought it was a place "where history could not happen" (28).  Why does Plunkett want to do this?  Is he successful?  To what extent is the St. Lucia depicted in the poem a place where history could not happen, as Plunkett understands that idea?

4. Consider the following statement:  "Though Achille, Plunkett and the narrator all try in their own ways to understand Helen, in the end she remains a mystery beyond their comprehension."  Do you agree?  Be sure to discuss how all three of these characters try to grapple with the idea of Helen.  (And Helen here means the islander who Hector and Achille fight over, who worked at one time for Plunkett—not the character from Greek mythology.)