1. I'm not sure if Ansit should have interfered or not. If she had interfered and he had retired I don't think Bardia would have known what do with himself. He had served both the King and Orual for so long if he had stopped working I don't think he would have liked it. He was both a victim and a collaborator. He was a victim because Orual did not see how old and tired he was. He was a collaborator because he knew how old and tired he was but didn't say anything.

2. I think Ansit means that Bardia was her master, she wasn't his.

3. Neither of them were content. I think Ansit was more disappointed and Orual was more jealous, but I don't know why I think that. I think Ansit has a more true idea of who Bardia really was than Orual, but I don't think either of them was necessarily right.

4. Orual has pointed her finger at the gods. Now the gods are pointing their finger (fingers?) back at Orual. Surgery is a good way to describe it because the bad stuff is being cut out. All of the possessiveness and prejudices are being removed from Orual.

5. The writing of the book definitely plays a very large part in the process. I think it likely that the gods are using it. I don't journal much anymore. But I do remember when I was younger I wrote quite a bit. I remember looking through my journal at entries I had made a year earlier and thinking how much older and more mature I was (yeah right! I just liked to think I was). I tend to write blank verse when I'm feeling down. I don't write down what's actually bothering me, just what I'm feeling, and I've found that writing is a good way to get stuff out of my system. I'm not sure if my eyes were opened or not, but I did feel cleaner (that's the only word I could think of, but I don't think it's the best one I could have used0 afterward.

1. I think he was both. He could have said he wanted to retire, but he didn't. Some people are like that, wanting to work until they drop. I can't really say whether Ansit should have interfered or not. Either way, there would have been loss.
2. I think what she was saying was that she didn't control him. She loved him, and wanted him to have the kind of life he wanted to have, not just the life that was nicest for her. Her love did seem to be considerably less selfish than Orual's. Their marriage seemed kind of sad, because Orual sort of came between them.
3. No, neither of them seemed to be content. He couldn't be in two places at once, couldn't be what both the women in his life wanted him to be. Like daughter of the King said, I think Orual was more jealous and Ansit more disappointed, but I think Ansit had the clearer picture of him.
4. I think it is an interesting metaphor. The gods are getting down to the very root of all her grudges and resentment and cutting them out. She has criticized the gods for their selfishness and possessiveness, now they are showing her the same traits in herself. Like the scene where her face is changed to Ungit's face.

1. "The mines are not the only place a man can be worked to death." What do you think of Ansit's summing-up of Bardia's life? Was she right not to interfere, to let him serve the Queen even to his own detriment? Is he a victim who was worked to death or a collaborator in his own demise?

It came as a bit of a shock. I think she was right not to go over his head and talk to the queen, but she should have encouraged him to talk to her. I don’t think he was really a victim. He chose to help Orual and he could have asked for a lightened load. However, Orual should have thought about his welfare more. She did use him.

2. "I was his wife, not his doxy. He was my husband, not my house-dog." What does Ansit mean by this? What do you think of Ansit's and Bardia's marriage?

I’m not exactly sure what she means by the first part but the second part seems to suggest that she was not in charge of him and did not make him do as she pleased. Wife also implies a more equable relationship.

3. Orual desired Bardia as a lover, but Ansit wanted him as a friend. Were either of them content with what they had? Which was more disappointed? More jealous? Were either of them in the right?

No, neither of them was content. I’m not sure which one was more disappointed but Ansit had more reason to be. Orual spent many days with Bardia and had him with her when he was putting his best foot forward. Orual was probably more jealous because she tend to have very strong emotions. Ansit had much more of a claim on Bardia than Orual did. Friendship ought to come with marriage.
That's all I have for now. I'll answer the others another time.

Edit: Here is the rest of them.

4. What do you think of the "divine surgery" that Orual is experiencing? Why is surgery an apt metaphor?

Yes, I think it is an apt metaphor. What they are doing is healing Orual but in a very painful way. I don’t think painkillers were common in Orual’s day. To me surgery implies, cut something out (I know that isn’t necessarily the case but it works in this instance). Orual needs to have her bitter feelings cut out and needs to have the truth about her life exposed. Sometimes surgery is also used to try to find out what is wrong or that is an after effect. The point of surgery is to heal but it does it in what is often a painful way.

5. Do you think that the gods used Orual's writing process to turn her eyes to herself more closely, and reexamine the whole sequence of events? Have you ever written out something that really bothered or weighed on you, either in a journal or simply to get it out of your system, and then had your eyes opened up?

Yes, I think so. In order to present her case, she had to examine what had happened. It seems she didn’t quite get it right but it was a start and it brought everything to the forefront again. I’ve written about things that bothered me and to get things out of my system but I’m not sure if I ever had my eyes open up. I tend to do a lot of reflecting before I write things and a lot of time in the moment too, so I might get some of that then. When I’m teaching, I am very often reflecting on and judging what I just did.