Study Questions &
Essay Topics
Study Questions
1. Discuss why,
after all the battlefield carnage that Inman has witnessed, Inman
seems to endorse violence on his journey home.
2. Tales and memories
feature prominently in the novel as characters frequently call to
mind their past lives. Discuss why what has previously occurred
plays such an important role in shaping the novel's plot structure and development.
3. Most of the
novel's most dramatic moments turn on the theme of freedom and capture.
People are trapped, hunted, and attacked like animals. Discuss what
kind of comparison the author is drawing between death in nature
and killing in the human world.
Suggested Essay Topics
1. What parallels, if any, does
Frazier draw between Ruby and Stobrod's, and Ada and Monroe's relationships?
Why are father-daughter relationships so important in the novel?
2. Inman's experiences at Junior's
house are among the novel's most mysterious and unsettling. Why
does Frazier present such a savage picture of mountain-dwellers?
Doesn't this view of mountain folk seem to support the judgmental
views of Charleston society about those who live close to the land?
3. Despite his distasteful moral
code, Solomon Veasey's animation and humorousness make him a particularly
human character with whom it is hard not to identify. Why does the author
present the preacher in this way, and how does this presentation
affect the novel's moral tone?
