SuitabookThe Duke of Bannerman Prep
Katie A. Nelson
- Reading
- Try reading a section at a time, then pause to trace who is doing the work in the debate partnership and what each character seems to value. After reading, you could discuss the ending and the consequences of Tanner’s choices.
- Themes
- Class, privilege and opportunity: Tanner’s scholarship hopes and the school’s wealthy students place effort and opportunity in tension. The novel explores how class privilege relates to hard work and talent, rather than presenting success as simply a matter of effort.
- Competition and moral choices: Tanner is in a demanding debate environment and faces decisions described as bad choices. The choices and their consequences are part of the story, but the available plot details do not establish how the novel judges them.
- Family responsibility: Tanner worries about his overworked mother and disabled younger brother while pursuing opportunity at school. Family concern is clearly part of Tanner’s situation; how the story develops or resolves that strain is unknown.
- Worth knowing
- The story includes pressure around scholarships and competition, family strain, and Tanner making bad choices. How those choices affect him, and how events resolve, remains unclear.