Rich Man Poor Man will appeal to readers who love family sagas or who are curious about the book that the film adaptations come from. Each of the questions below can be used to analyze the novel itself or to discuss differences between the book and the film.

1. How does Shaw divide the legacy of Mary and Axel Jordache among three offspring? A story about a son and a daughter would seem to have an easy and natural structure. Why three protagonists?

2. Does Shaw present each protagonist with equal sympathy? What is admirable and unadmirable about each?

3. Clearly Tom's best moment occurs at the end of the novel when he rescues Jean. He has transformed from thug to hero. What is Gretchen's best moment?

What is Rudolph's?

4. About three-quarters through the novel, Gretchen asserts that her affair with Teddy Boylan was the shaping event in all...