Mr. Blue
By Myles Connolly

144 Pages • $11.95

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
AND REFLECTION

Mr. Blue
By Myles Connolly

[Open a pdf version]

Use the following questions as guides to deeper individual understanding of the novel or for group discussion.

1. What are Blue’s interests, passions, and eccentricities? What deeper aspects of his character and beliefs do they point to and illuminate?

2. What is the narrator’s stance toward Blue? What attracts him to Blue? What puzzles him? What challenges him?

3. Connolly could have chosen to have the story of Blue narrated by a fully supportive acquaintance or disciple. What is the effect of the voice of the skeptical narrator on you as a reader?

4. Blue says of his wealth, “These millions were a trial set me by my Lady Poverty.” What does that mean? What do you think of Blue’s use of his wealth?

5. How is Blue like Jesus? How is he like St. Francis of Assisi?

6. Describe Blue’s faith. What does being a Catholic mean to him? How does he express his faith? How does it shape his life?

7. Myles Connolly was a screenwriter, and several times during the novel, Blue describes the potential of film to enlarge the human spirit and unite human beings. Almost eighty years later, how would you evaluate the impact of film and television on the human spirit? Has it lived up to the potential expressed in the novel? How has it succeeded? How has it failed?

8. In Blue’s movie idea, what event brings about the second coming of Jesus? Why? What did you think of the film Blue describes?

9. The premise of Blue’s film is the enslavement of humanity by technology. In what ways does technology free you? In what ways do you feel “enslaved” by technology? Is technology used in contemporary culture to control human beings and limit their freedom in any way?

10. In 1954, Myles Connolly wrote in an introduction to an edition of Mr. Blue that at the time of Mr. Blue’s 1928 publication, rationalism seemed to be ascendant over faith. But, he observes, the renewed popularity of his book hinted to him that perhaps momentum had been reversed. What events might have accounted for a diminished enthusiasm for relying on rationalism? Where does our contemporary world stand in this debate? Where do you?

11. Mr. Blue might be described as a “free spirit.” What is the source of his freedom?

12. The modern world often sees religious faith as not much more than a constrictive set of rules. How does Mr. Blue challenge that view?

13. Is Blue a success or a failure? Why?

14. Describe your reaction to the narrator’s closing remarks. Where does he ultimately stand in relation to Blue? Where do you?

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