Acts of Assumption is the story of two young women who are outsiders within their own outsider tribes. Serach Gottesman, the independent-minded eldest daughter of a Boro Park Haredi family is unsupported — and eventually disowned — by that family, for craving both a rigorous secular and a gender-blind religious education, for not wanting children, and for being a lesbian. Paloma Rodriguez, the headstrong, ambitious Bronx-born daughter of a Colombian immigrant is dismissed in New York for being Latina and in Colombia for being a gringa and by members of both societies for being a lesbian.
The two women meet under curious circumstances and form their own little tribe. They provide each other with love, ballast and a peculiarly combined sense of faith. But they both also struggle with what they’ve had to give up to be true to their own hearts. They learn that some cultural bonds grip tight and some wounds run deep — and that living in a modern society means continually examining, questioning and trying to come to peace with one’s basic assumptions.
Fiction
Acts of Assumption
January 1, 2013
Discussion Questions
Courtesy of S.W. Leicher
- As young girls, Serach and Paloma both struggle with much of what is expected and what is forbidden to them. How much in each girl’s struggles relates to the rigid gender roles of her culture, how much to her particular family circumstances, how much to attitudes about gay love and how much to issues that are common to girls across cultures? Do either of them accept any of the restrictions or expectations without complaint?
- In today’s United States, is it harder to be a Latina or a Haredi Jew? Which is more of an “outsider” culture and why? What defenses does each culture erect to insulate and protect itself?
- Serach states that what finally drives her to leave her home and family was “the wigs.” Why was her battle with her mother over the wigs the “last straw”? What significance do wigs — and hair — have in the story as a whole?
- What qualities in Serach appeal most to Paloma? What qualities in Paloma appeal most to Serach? What are the main dynamics of their relationship and how are those dynamics shaped by what draws each woman to the other?
- What does Serach mean when she says she doesn’t want to join an egalitarian synagogue? Is it easier to give up something entirely than to settle for something that doesn’t completely conform to one’s desires?
- When Paloma first meets Frank, she makes sure to sit down at the table with him to share a cup of coffee so as to “establish her equality immediately and firmly.” How big a role do differences in class (as opposed to differences in ethnicity or religion) play in her story? Do they seem to be as important in Serach’s story as in Paloma’s?
- Paloma has a hard time both when she is operating in New York as a Latina and when she is with her grandmother in Colombia operating as a “gringa.” Is it inevitable for children of immigrants to feel somewhat ill-at-ease in their parents’ adopted country or in their parents’ country of origin — or both?
- Both Serach and Paloma have a range of relationships with men and boys. How would you describe those relationships? Does the fact that the two women are lesbians have any bearing on those relationships? How are the men and boys in the novel generally portrayed?
- Ethnic prejudice is a major theme in the book — not just between Jews or Latinas and the “mainstream” culture but also between Jews and Latinas themselves — and also between each of those cultures and other “outsider” cultures. How do those prejudices manifest themselves? Does contact with the “other” seem to lessen or to exacerbate them?
- What role does illness play in the novel? What role does healing?
- Shmuely comes in contact with a number of women who behave in ways that are “outside the norm” for girls and women in his culture — and who subtly or directly challenge his views. When does he seem able to deal with those contacts and challenges and when does it become impossible for him to manage? Do you think exposure to ways of life and thinking other than his own will ever change him or does he only “put up with” differences when circumstances force him to do so?
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