Severance

Severance is sometimes read as a timely satire of the economic underpinnings of American life and culture. How are work, consumption, and identity related within the novel and what might the interplay between them offer readers as social commentary?  Consider these points as you formulate a response.  

• In what ways are major characters defined in relation to their work, and what might this say about the role of work in modern lives?
• In what way does Ling Ma use products to define characters, such as Candace’s work with the Bible or Ruifeng’s commitment to facial creams, and what might this reveal about the relationship between consumerism and identity?   
• Is “opting out” of work and consumption possible, as Jonathan believes, or is Candace right in her observation that his critique of Manhattan and desire to leave are both privileged and naïve? Explain.  
• Why does Candace keep working after the city has been deserted?
• What ideas do Bob’s pandemic plan and leadership style reveal about the interplay of work, consumption, and identity?
• What might the novel’s ending suggest about the interconnectedness of work, consumption, and identity and why we persist in relationships with that which causes our suffering?

Teaching Suggestion: Students may benefit from written copies of the questions to refer to while discussing and/or from previewing questions ahead of time to prepare answers with text references.