The Definitions

In the opening scene of the novel, the students try to recall their earliest memories. These memories are coveted by the students as a thread back to who they are, as the virus has wiped any sense of their own identity. Consider your own response to this exercise. What is the earliest memory that you can recall? What is its significance to you and your understanding of yourself?

Matt Greene, the author, has said that The Definitions was partly inspired by watching his child start school and witnessing the rigidity of educational systems and institutions. How do the curricula, instructions and rules portrayed in the novel relate to your own learning experiences at school, college, or anywhere else? What approaches do you find to be most helpful when you are learning something new?

One of the novel’s central philosophical questions is about the tension between language and reality. There are various analogies for language: the mold used to bake muffins, the glove for which the world is the hand. Philosophers and linguists have debated whether language primarily represents reality, or if language precedes our experience of reality by determining what we can recognize, conceptualize, and understand. After reading this novel, what do you think? Following the narrator’s fascination with specific words that she learns, what are some words or metaphors that seem beautiful or interesting to you?

The students at the Center do not remember their names, but they eventually choose to rename themselves after characters from their favorite shows and movies. What do you know about the characters that are referenced—Chino and Maria from West Side Story, Gunther or Chandler from Friends—and how do they relate to the characters in this novel who take on their names? If you had name yourself after a character from a film, book, show, who would you pick? Why?

Outside of classes, a social hierarchy begins to take shape, with some students at the top of the pyramid and others more vulnerable. How would you describe this social hierarchy, and what are the factors that decide it? The students cannot remember anything about their lives before coming to the Center. Which—if any—of these things would have altered the dynamics between the students?

There are lessons in Art, Math, Biology, but also more unusual classes: Politeness, the History of the Twenty-First Century, the Appreciation of Poetry. If you had to design a curriculum with the goal of reintegrating these students into society, which of these would you keep or remove? And what other subjects might you add?

The definitions that the students learn are often fixed and binary. But, as the narrator discusses with Chino, things are often more complicated: An object could be both a chair and a bench, could meet multiple definitions at once. How does this relate to the narrator’s questions about her own identity? What are some other examples, from the novel or your own life, of definitions that don’t fully capture what they’re describing?

At one point, Chino suspects that what they’ve been told is not true. He concocts different theories about what happened—there was no virus, the Center created the virus, they are actually robots. Were you convinced by any of Chino’s theories? Did you believe the Center and the facts that they present about their situation? Do the Center’s motives seem more sinister or benevolent?

The narrator begins to learn more about herself as she navigates romantic relationships with Maria, Eddie, and then Kathy. What did you learn about the narrator in each of these encounters? Did any of her responses surprise you? To what extent do you believe that our romantic relationships—or partners—shape who we are?

At the conclusion of the novel, the narrator has still not graduated. Years have passed and almost everyone else seems to have moved forward. Why do you think that the narrator is still at the Center? Do you think that she will ever graduate? In the last line of the novel, she says, “Please forgive me. I think I am ready. I want to start again.” What did you make of this?