Essay prompts Good Spirits B.K. Borison

Good Spirits: Analytical Essay Prompts

Use these 12 prompts to analyze Good Spirits by B.K. Borison. Each prompt is tied to specific evidence from the novel, covering character change, causality, relationships, contrasting scenes, themes, symbols, structure, foreshadowing, and the ending. Internal links connect to deeper discussions of key motifs.

1. How does Harriet York’s concept of “standing her ground” evolve across the novel?

Why this prompt matters
Harriet initially gives in to customers and family pressure, calling herself “too soft.” Her arc from compliance to self-assertion mirrors her emotional growth and directly influences her relationships with Nolan and her family.

Sample thesis direction
Harriet’s repeated acts of giving refunds and avoiding confrontation serve as a foil for her later defiance at the gala, suggesting that true agency requires both internal belief and external expression.

Evidence leads

  • Chapter 4: Harriet refunds a customer for a music box with a tiny crack, and Sasha scolds her for not enforcing the no-return policy.
  • Chapter 21: At the Christmas market, Nolan calls the past Harriet “contained” and the present Harriet “boundless.”
  • Chapter 29: Harriet refuses to join the family photo, listing qualities she loves about herself, and chooses estrangement.
  • Chapter 38: Samantha apologizes, and Harriet—braver because of Nolan—agrees to reconcile, a choice she would have avoided earlier.

2. What role does the afterlife bureaucracy play in shaping Nolan’s assignment?

Why this prompt matters
The bureaucratic system—with its managers, deadlines, and rules—creates the central obstacle. Understanding its logic reveals how the novel critiques deterministic fate and champions personal choice.

Sample thesis direction
The afterlife system, designed to be infallible, is repeatedly subverted by anomalies (missing reapers, uncontrolled time jumps), implying that love and free will cannot be regulated by cosmic rules.

Evidence leads

  • Chapter 3: Isabella insists “the system never errs” and orders Nolan to find Harriet’s real wrongdoing.
  • Chapter 14: Nolan hides his own memory trip from Betty, realizing the rules are bending.
  • Chapter 25: Isabella warns Nolan that his attachment could harm Harriet, escalating the stakes.
  • Chapter 39: Isabella reveals the assignment was engineered to bring soulmates together, reframing the bureaucracy as a matchmaking scheme.

3. How does the symbol of the compass connect Nolan’s unfinished business to his relationship with Harriet?

Why this prompt matters
The compass appears first as a hidden object, then as a gift that Harrison uses to confirm her role. Its transformation from lost artifact to directional symbol parallels the shift from haunting mechanics to emotional resolution.

Sample thesis direction
The compass moves from being a physical anchor for Nolan’s forgotten past to a metaphor for Harriet as his true north, demonstrating that redemption lies in connection, not correction.

Evidence leads

  • Chapter 27: Nolan finds his broken compass in the supply closet and hides it, choosing secrecy.
  • Chapter 35: Harriet gives Nolan a new compass; when he touches it, it points to her, confirming she is the key.
  • Chapter 36: After Nolan disappears, Harriet places the compass on the mantel and waits, using it as a symbol of hope.
  • Chapter 40: Nolan returns, choosing Harriet over eternal peace, validating the compass’s message.

4. In what ways do contrasting settings (the ice rink vs. the family gala) illuminate the central relationship?

Why this prompt matters
The novel juxtaposes intimate, playful spaces with formal, oppressive ones. These contrasts highlight the characters’ emotional states and the nature of their bond.

Sample thesis direction
The ice rink’s vulnerability and mutual support stand in direct opposition to the gala’s performance and judgment, proving that authenticity flourishes only where expectations are absent.

Evidence leads

  • Chapter 12: Nolan and Harriet ice skate; she excels while he struggles, and they share sincere apologies and physical warmth.
  • Chapter 29: At the gala, Harriet’s mother criticizes her appearance; Nolan defends her, calling the mother “foolish.”
  • Chapter 30: After leaving the gala, Harriet feels light instead of guilty, contrasting with her earlier anxiety.
  • The private intimacy of the ice rink versus the public scrutiny of the gala underscores the safety of their relationship.

5. How does Nolan’s first dream in over a century alter his understanding of his own existence?

Why this prompt matters
Dreams bridge the supernatural and the human. Nolan’s dream introduces desire and memory, breaking his century‑long emotional isolation and catalyzing his quest for resolution.

Sample thesis direction
The dream—a conscious return of suppressed humanity—forces Nolan to confront that his afterlife has been a static waiting, and that Harriet reawakens not only his senses but his capacity to hope.

Evidence leads

  • Chapter 10: Nolan dreams of Harriet in his bedroom; he wakes aroused and shocked, realizing he has not dreamed in 100 years.
  • Chapter 15: He confesses to Harriet that his senses are returning—he tasted coffee, felt cold, dreamed of her.
  • Chapter 22: Nolan’s magic flares uncontrollably after emotional intimacy, showing that his supernatural state responds to awakened feelings.
  • The dream directly precedes his decision to ignore Isabella and keep pursuing Harriet.

6. What does the mistletoe motif reveal about the relationship between magic and consent?

Why this prompt matters
Mistletoe appears after Nolan’s first kiss and later multiplies uncontrollably. Its magical manifestations parallel the characters’ negotiation of physical boundaries and emotional honesty.

Sample thesis direction
Mistletoe, traditionally a token of permission, becomes in the novel a barometer of emotional truth: it appears only when both parties are fully willing, and it overgrows when feelings are suppressed.

Evidence leads

  • Chapter 18: After Nolan kisses Harriet, mistletoe covers the ceiling—his magic expressing what words cannot.
  • Chapter 19: Nolan and Harriet agree to a pretend relationship until Christmas Eve, and mistletoe continues to multiply.
  • Chapter 24: Sasha is startled by the overgrown mistletoe, signaling to others what the couple tries to hide.
  • When Nolan leaves, the mistletoe vanishes, underscoring that the magic is tied to his present, consenting love.

7. How does Harriet’s relationship with her sister Samantha function as a mirror for her relationship with Nolan?

Why this prompt matters
Both relationships involve estrangement, apology, and reconciliation. Samantha’s arc parallels Nolan’s: each requires Harriet to extend trust and to accept that she is worthy of love.

Sample thesis direction
Samantha’s envy and silence replicate the emotional distance Nolan bridges through vulnerability; Harriet’s ability to reconcile with her sister predicts her capacity to forgive Nolan for his necessary departure.

Evidence leads

  • Chapter 6: Harriet texts Samantha after the first memory trip, beginning tentative reconciliation.
  • Chapter 29: Samantha accuses Harriet of damaging the family; Harriet leaves the gala heartbroken.
  • Chapter 37: Samantha visits the Crow’s Nest, admits envy, and apologizes; they hold hands.
  • Chapter 39: Nolan chooses to return to Harriet, mirroring the active choice Samantha makes to rebuild the sister bond.

8. What does the candle in the window symbolize across the narrative arc?

Why this prompt matters
The candle recurs from Nolan’s memory of his mother to Harriet’s vigil. It represents hope, waiting, and the act of keeping a light on for someone to return.

Sample thesis direction
The candle shifts from a historical tradition of guiding sailors home to a personal ritual of hope in the face of abandonment, ultimately becoming the emblem of Harriet’s agency in choosing to wait.

Evidence leads

  • Chapter 22: In a memory, Nolan sees a candle his mother lit to guide sailors—a family tradition.
  • Chapter 37: After Nolan’s departure, Harriet lights a candle in the window and tells herself to “remember and wait.”
  • Chapter 40: Harriet blows out the candle, believing Nolan is not coming back, the extinguishing echoing her acceptance of loss.
  • Immediately after, Nolan knocks on the door, and the candle’s symbolism of hope is fulfilled.

9. How does the structure of alternating point-of-view chapters reinforce the theme of incomplete knowledge?

Why this prompt matters
The novel alternates between Harriet’s first‑person and Nolan’s limited third-person. This structural choice creates dramatic irony and emphasizes that each character holds pieces the other lacks.

Sample thesis direction
By restricting each narrator’s knowledge—Harriet unaware of the afterlife rules, Nolan blind to his own past—the structure positions the reader as the only entity capable of seeing the full picture, mirroring the ghostly omniscience that eventually unites them.

Evidence leads

  • Chapter 3 (Nolan): Nolan hides his memory anomaly from the bureaucracy; the reader learns of his physical sensations but Harriet does not.
  • Chapter 10 (Nolan): Nolan’s dream of Harriet is revealed to the reader before he admits it to her.
  • Chapter 18 (Harriet): Harriet theorizes the hidden object might be Nolan’s anchor; Nolan has already found the compass in Chapter 14.
  • The alignment of their knowledge only occurs in the final chapters when Matilda reveals the soulmate plot.

10. What does the fig‑jam scene (Chapter 9) reveal about the nature of intimacy and forgiveness?

Why this prompt matters
After a memory trip leaves them covered in jam, Nolan tastes it from Harriet’s skin, a charged moment that ends in her hurt and his regret. The jam becomes a symbol of mess and shared vulnerability.

Sample thesis direction
The jam scene—simultaneously sensual and painful—stages the central conflict of the novel: intimacy demands emotional risk, and that risk can wound even as it deepens connection.

Evidence leads

  • Chapter 9: Covered in fig jam, Nolan licks it from Harriet’s skin; she then suggests she might help him move on, and he reacts with bitter anger.
  • Chapter 11: Nolan brings peppermint drinks as an apology, referencing the fig jam.
  • Chapter 12: Nolan sincerely apologizes while ice skating, and Harriet forgives him, the jam now a memory of their first real conflict.
  • The jam reappears in Chapter 39 when Matilda mentions it as evidence of their compatibility, framing the mess as a marker of fate.

11. How does the ending redefine the concept of “unfinished business” in the context of love?

Why this prompt matters
The novel subverts the typical ghost‑story resolution: rather than a haunting being resolved by correction, it is resolved by choice. The ending reframes the entire purpose of Nolan’s assignment.

Sample thesis direction
Isabella and Matilda reveal that Nolan’s unfinished business is not a misdeed but a soulmate connection, arguing that love itself can be the highest form of unfinished business—one that demands active choice rather than penance.

Evidence leads

  • Chapter 35: Nolan’s compass points to Harriet, confirming she is the key, not a list of transgressions.
  • Chapter 39: Matilda and Isabella explain that every coincidence (the boat, the jam, the songs) was designed to bring them together.
  • Chapter 40: Nolan is offered a choice: move on to peace or return to a mortal life with Harriet. He chooses her.
  • The novel ends with Nolan promising “every tomorrow,” converting the haunting into a permanent, chosen bond.

12. What does the note‑to‑readers chapter (Chapter 1) suggest about the role of the reader in the story?

Why this prompt matters
The very first chapter is a paratextual list of accessibility features. It breaks the fourth wall implicitly, reminding readers that they hold agency over the text—just as the characters hold agency over their fates.

Sample thesis direction
By foregrounding reader choice in formatting before any story begins, Borison primes the audience to recognize the central thematic tension between predetermined systems (afterlife bureaucracy) and individual agency (Harriet and Nolan’s decisions).

Evidence leads

  • Chapter 1: Lists font size, background color, justification, and text‑to‑speech controls—emphasizing reader control.
  • This paratextual gesture mirrors the novel’s argument that rules can be adjusted or ignored when they conflict with personhood.
  • Harriet repeatedly insists on consent (demanding Nolan use the door, asking him to say please before taking her hand).
  • The ending’s choice—Nolan can return or move on—parallels the reader’s freedom to interpret the story through adjustable lenses.

Further Exploration

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