Scoop (Evelyn Waugh) discussion questions
(Questions from http://www.loveliestbookgroup.com/2005/01/scoop-1429/ )
Did you like the humour in this book? Was there any particular scene or line that made you laugh out loud?
Did you have a favourite character? Did you think they were well drawn?
What did you think of the book’s language, for instance, the use of the n-word? Is the book racist?
What does this book say about the English class system?
Waugh wrote that his main theme was “to expose the pretensions of foreign correspondents . . . to be heroes, statesmen and diplomats”. What sort of picture does he paint of journalists?
“Dear me, how little you seem to have mastered the correct procedure of your profession,” Mr Baldwin tells Boot (page 172). What other journalistic ‘procedures’ did Boot fail to master? What things did he do/not do that gave away the fact he wasn’t a ‘normal’ foreign correspondent?
Did the situation in Ishmalia remind you of any current political events or wars?
Did you find the ending satisfactory?
Have you read anything by Evelyn Waugh before? If not, has reading Scoop made you want to read more of his work?
(Questions from http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-scoop/topicsforfurtherstudy.html )
In Scoop, the Daily Beast has a definite editorial position on the war in Ishmaelia. On the World Wide Web, examine the editorial pages of the New York Times and the Wall St. Journal. What can you tell about each paper's political position from its editorials? When both editorialize on the same issue, what differing positions do they take up, and what does this indicate about their underlying political philosophies? You can also try the same exercise with the Washington Post and the Washington Times.
More people today get their news from television rather than from newspapers. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each medium as a source of news?
Often in fiction, the protagonist grows and changes as a result of the experiences he undergoes. Does this happen to William Boot, or is he just the same at the end...
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How has foreign journalism and the public's attitude towards foreign events changed or stayed the same since Scoop? (too many correspondents were sitting on top of each other in a bar in Africa, talking more to each other than to local sources vs embedded journalists, pool reporters, cutbacks in foreign journalism).