Setting
Where do Lauren and Delphine often meet up?
At the hotel lobby
In this story, what is the name of the main character?
Lauren (Grant)
When was Munro born?
July 10, 1931
What is the first secret that Lauren discovers when helping Harry move boxes?
She found the ashes of a baby in the cardboard box. Harry later explained to her that while Eileen was pregnant with Lauren, she was feeling overwhelmed and sick, so she decided to go for a drive while it was raining. She was driving too fast and "missed a curve". The baby slipped out of her cot and passed. However, Lauren survived.
What foreshadowing is used in this chapter/short story?
Delphine's stories throughout the chapter foreshadow details that are revealed about Lauren's family and their past. All the stories are added up, and eventually, they all get tied together when Lauren, Harry, Eileen, and Delphine meet for dinner.
Where does Lauren's father, Harry, work?
Who are the main characters parents?
Eileen and Harry
What prize did Munro win in 2013?
Nobel prize in literature.
How do Lauren's parents deprive her of her innocence throughout her childhood?
She drank beer at 5, she smoked when she was 6, and she heard her parents talk about (and witnessed) other adult topics and activities.
What does the changing of seasons represent throughout the chapter?
At the beginning of the chapter, when everything was good between the family, it was summertime. As the conflicts progressed, winter approached. When conflicts got worse, it got colder and colder.
What season does the chapter take place in?
Winter
Who is the woman that Lauren befriends from the hotel? What is her significance in this chapter?
Delphine
What was Munro diagnosed with?
Dementia
How does Lauren meet Delphine?
Delphine worked at the hotel restaurant and found a necklace that had Lauren's name on it. She asked girls from Lauren's school if they knew anyone with that name, so they brought Lauren to Delphine to see if it was hers. Delphine told her to check back daily to see if anyone claimed it because if nobody did by the end of that week, Delphine would give it to Lauren.
What is the main motif used in the chapter?
The title of the chapter, Trespasses.
Where do Harry, Eileen, and Delphine spread the baby's ashes?
In the snow
Why does Lauren struggle with relationships (lack of friendships other than Delphine)?
She recently moved to a new school in September, and struggled to make relationships with people at her school.
Did Munro know about the abuse her husband was doing to her daughter?
Yes
When Lauren was talking to Delphine, Delphine brought up a story about a woman who got pregnant and gave the baby up for adoption (Delphine had previously suggested that Lauren may be adopted). Lauren begins to think that the story is about her and that she is adopted, so the situation makes her feel shocked and sick.
What is "trespassed" upon in this chapter?
Lauren's childhood and innocence are trespassed upon by her parents and the many secrets that were hidden from her.
What is the significance of the hotel throughout this story?
This is the place where Lauren and Delphine meet up with each other throughout the chapter. Here, Delphine reveals many of the secrets about Lauren's family's past through stories that are actually about (or so she thinks) Lauren and suggesting details about Lauren's past (like when she suggests that Eileen and Harry could not have a baby, and that she was adopted).
What is Delphine's hidden relationship to Lauren and her family?
Delphine is the biological mother of the baby that Eileen and Harry adopted and that died in the car accident that Harry discussed with Lauren in the beginning of the chapter.
Did Munro pull her daughters trauma to write stories like the ones in Runaway?
Yes.
What happens when Delphine comes to Lauren's house to have dinner with her family?
It is revealed that the baby of Eileen's who died was Delphine's biological daughter, named Lauren. Lauren's parents shared that after the other baby died, Eileen and Harry named her Lauren as well as a "fresh start". They reveal that Delphine wanted a relationship with Lauren because she thought that Lauren was her biological daughter (she did not know that she died). They eventually took the baby's ashes and spread them in the snow. They dropped off Delphine at the hotel to end the chapter.
"Forgive us our sins. Our trespasses. Forgive us our trespasses" (Munro 234).
Bible prayer in relation to the story