73 pages 2 hours read

Caleb Carr

The Alienist

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1994

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Essay Topics

1.

What does The Alienist reveal about the psychological debate between free will and determinism? Does the book resolve this debate?

2.

For good and ill, what role does the New York City police department play in the story?

3.

Based on the novel, and without focusing on the fact that all the murder victims in the fictional story are children, how would you describe the experiences of New York City’s immigrant children near the end of the 19th century?