Chapter 18: Home and Away

Swedish Again: Chapter-By-Chapter Guide

Questions for Understanding

1. What happened to Anna five days after she returned from Israel?
2. What did Fionn want to do in Korea?
3. Where did Anna, Fionn, and Jillian stay when they visited Gwangju?
4. When did Anna and her cousin Sophie first meet?

Questions for Group Reflection and Discussion

1. Describe Anna’s life in Sweden before the trip to Korea in March. What role do Baha’i activities play in her life? How would you describe her Swedish life at this point?
2. When Fionn and Anna visit Korea, she remarks, “What a change two years could make.” How is Fionn different now? How has he changed since 2015?
3. How are Anna’s behavior and social standing in Korea different than during her life in Sweden? What can we guess Fionn thinks about this?
4. Anna and Sophie first met as adults. How common do you think this is? Do you have any family members you first met as an adult?

Ideas for Further Consideration

• At one point, Lena consoles Anna (about Fionn) by saying, “You want him to be spiritual, but your problem is that you want it now. Maybe God has a different timetable.” Do you agree with Lena? What role do you think timing plays in how we judge the success or failure of our endeavors?
• Anna reconnects with her cousin. Is family important to you? Do you have close relationships to your parents, siblings, children, and/or cousins? Why, or why not?
• Anna describes the reading of her father’s will and her feelings about it. How important do you think it is to make a will? Can a clear will prevent hard feelings in a family, or is it more likely to cause them?

Especially for English Language Learners

Key Words and Expressions:

P. 186

“I could feel respect start oozing out of (1) Fionn as he eased through (2) the rest of the evening: a long, hot shower, a bit of (3) relaxing on the bed in his fluffy, hotel-issue (4) robe and slippers, flipping through some channels.(5)”

• = flowing out of
• = calmly or easily spent his time
• = some; a short time of
• = officially provided by the hotel; a product of the hotel
• = using the remote control to look at channels on the TV, checking what’s on TV.

Grammar Focus:

Complex Sentences

Complex sentences are formed by combining an independent clause and a dependent clause. If the dependent clause comes first, a comma is used.

“When I got back, I once again set my mind on pulling everything in my life together into one integrated whole.” (p. 181)

1. “When I got back” is a dependent clause. It cannot be a sentence by itself. It needs to be attached to an independent clause

• “I once again set my mind on …” is an independent clause. It can be a sentence by itself. It does not need anything else.

More examples:

“…and when I looked outside now, I saw January darkness above and uneven, icy streets below.” (p.182)

“When I talked with Lena, I felt that my international background was a valid version of a Swedish life.” (p. 182)

“I knew this because he still needed my credit card to finish transactions until he was 18.” (p. 183)

Review Q&A

Q: What’s a clause?

A: It’s a group of words with a subject and a verb.

EX1: When I got back

EX2: I was planning to welcome my 83-year-old mother

This is not a clause; it is a phrase: In the spring

Answers to Part 1

1. She got very sick. She was miserable.
2. He wanted to go shopping.
3. They stayed in a hotel suite on the top floor of a glass high-rise.
4. They first met when they were 19 and 20 years old.