Nights at the Circus Lesson Plan

In their trip to St. Petersburg, Walser sees the extreme poverty, and Fevvers sees the wealth and opulence. Why is this? How does this relate to the way you interpret their characters?

Walser is driven to see how others live, especially people different from himself. He is also living as a member of the circus now, experiencing the working class life of the clowns and bearing witness to the poverty around him. As the show's star attraction, Fevvers is kept away from this part of the city - isolated with Lizzie in a fancy hotel. Class struggle, poverty and wealth are very important in this novel: students should note how those who have access to money have power and...