The Fifth Season

Jemisin often uses repetition and paragraphing/lineation in ways more reminiscent of poetry than prose. At the end of Chapter 14, for example, Jemisin splits the sentence “And then the obelisk shatters” (263) across multiple lines. At the end of the Prologue, she repeats, “This is the way the world ends” (14) three time in succession (an allusion to T. S. Eliot’s “The Hollow Men”). How do these stylistic choices underscore the novel’s setting, themes, etc.?

How does the revelation that Hoa is the novel’s narrator change your perception of him? How does it change your interpretation of the novel’s events? 

Describe Binof as a young girl. What role does she play in Damaya’s development as a character, and why?

Schaffa is the closest to a singular villain, but there are moments when Jemisin depicts him in a more sympathetic light. Choose two to three moments that humanize Schaffa: What effect do these have on your understanding of both him and the Fulcrum/Guardians in general?

Compare and contrast the killings of Uche and Coru. How does each death reflect or develop the novel’s ideas about parenthood?

Discuss the relationship that develops between Innon, Syen, and Alabaster. How does it seem to either reflect or deviate from Sanzed social norms?

Several characters in The Fifth Season either use more than one name over the course of their life (e.g. Tonkee/Binof, Damaya/Syen/Essun) or adopt names that deviate from established convention (e.g. Ykka Rogga Castrima). How does Jemisin use characters’ names to develop her broader depiction of language?

Jemisin provides extensive physical descriptions of many of the novel’s characters, but many of the traits she describes—e.g. “icewhite eyes” (111) do not exist in real life. What point do you think Jemisin is making about the way race functions in Sanze? In our own world?