PLACE IN THE COUNTRY is, among other things, a story about class, and how money can buy a homeowner both social standing and privacy. For Cunningham, "a place in the country" means solitude, freedom, and peace. For her neighbors who make their living from the land, the country means something different, their livelihood, for example. Contrast the Bowerses' experience with Cunningham's own. In what ways do their experiences in and perceptions of the country differ from her own? Why? Why is their departure from the country so significant and devastating an event in Cunningham's life? 7. Cunningham cheerfully admits her tendency to overromanticize country life. Is she still a romantic by the book's end? Which of her opinions change (and which remain) by book's end? Do you think Cunningham's dreams and romanticism keep pace with the reality of her life at Willowby? 8. Contrast Albin and Jeanie (the Tuxedo Park caretaker and his wife) with Willowby's Cecil Green and Stewart Lee. How are they, and their relationship with the land they maintain, different? How are they treated differently by the people whose property they repair? How dependent are the homeowners on their caretakers? 9. Like A Sentimental Journey and other 18th-century novels, A PLACE IN THE COUNTRY is, perhaps above all, a story about the education of its hero. How, and by whom, is Cunningham educated over the course of her story? What do you think are the most significant lessons Cunningham learns over the course of this book? 10.