The Heart Goes Last

Stan and Charmaine inhabit and move through a series of different spaces over the course of the text: their car, Consilience, Positron Prison, their new home in Consilience, a tightly packed shipping crate, a home in Las Vegas, etc. What is the significance of these different spaces and how might they reflect the character’s thoughts, feelings, and/or experiences? How do these spaces relate to the novel’s key themes and ideas?

It is explained that they chose the 1950s aesthetic for Consilience because “that was the decade in which most people self-identified as being happy” (92). Is there a deeper significance to this choice? How might it intersect with other ideas or themes Margaret Atwood explores throughout the text?

At one point in the novel, when Stan believes he may soon die, he looks back on his life and regrets the “so many small choices” that led him to that point (337). However, how much agency does Stan really have throughout the story? Is he to blame for the things that happen to him? Could things have gone differently? Why or why not?