The Stone Diaries

The novel explores various gender stereotypes about women and how women fit into their gender roles. How do the men in the novel fit into or step out of their assigned societal roles? How do their relationships with women influence this behavior?

Family relationships, friendships, and ancestry are especially significant in the novel. Choose two characters and analyze their relationship to each other. What obstacles do they encounter? Who or what influences their relationship? How does it grow?

The story is mostly told in third person, although Daisy sometimes switches to first person. How would the story be different—in terms of plot, characters, meaning—if the story were told completely in first person?