Characters |
|
Inman |
Ada |
Swimmer –
childhood friend, Cherokee Indian Balis –
hospital Blind man Solomon Veasy
– preacher Laura Foster Three men
outside store, attached Inman outside of town Girl in canoe
on Cape Fear River Gypsies Big Tildy –
whore Odell –
peddler Junior,
Chastity, Lila, 2 sisters, 2 boys – Inman helped remove bull blocking stream,
turned Inman in to Home Guard for $5 Yellow slave
– drew map Goatwoman –
kindness, medicine Potts – Red String
Band, sympathized with Federals Sara, baby –
husband John killed in war Men from
north - looting |
Monroe –
father, preacher Claire
Dechutes – mother, deceased Esco and
Sally Swanger – neighbors Ruby Stobrod –
Ruby’s father Reid – initially
with Teague, stayed behind and never left, married Ruby Three sons Ada’s
daughter with Inman – 9 years old at end of novel |
Teague and the Guard- Bounty hunters |
|
Prisoner
telling story from jail cell – captured outlier, was a volunteer, so he “just
unvolunteered” Caught
Stobrod and Prangle – shot both, Stobrod survived Caught Inman
and Stobrod – Inman helped Stobrod escape, shot Teague and then was shot
himself |
For Discussion:
NOTE: Page numbers are from the 1997 hardback edition.
1.
Monroe and Ada were ridiculed for not adapting
to the area where he decided to build his church. They “stayed too long green in the country
they had taken up, and they soon became a source of great comedy to many households”
(page 59). How could/should they have
better adapted to their surroundings?
Was it wise or fair for Monroe to take his daughter out of the
surroundings where she had been raised?
2.
After she was left alone, Ada “wondered how a
human being could be raised more impractically for the demands of an exposed
life” (page 22). Would Ada have been
able to survive without Ruby? What did
you like best about Ruby’s rules when she moved in?
3.
Mrs.
McKennet, one of Ada’s neighbors, “found the fighting glorious and
tragic and heroic. Noble beyond her
powers of expression” (page 140). Would
anyone else in the novel agree with her?
Do you think this view was typical of people in the south who had not
experienced the war?
4.
When he was still in the hospital, Inman met a
blind man who asked him “cite me one instance where you wished you were blind”
(page 6). This question led Inman to
reflect on the battle at Fredericksburg.
Did his following description give you any new insights?
5.
The blind man also told Inman that he had been
born blind and that he was glad he had never had vision because, “It might have
been worse had I ever been given a glimpse of the world and then lost it” (page
5). Did you understand his reasoning?
6.
When Inman was crossing the Cape Fear River, he
reflected, “he would like to love the world as it was, and he felt a great deal
of accomplishment for the occasions when he did, since the other was so
easy. Hate took no effort other than to
look about” (page 69). How did this help
explain the Civil War?
7.
Discuss Stobrod and his music. Ada reflected on him, “it seemed akin to
miracle that Stobrod, of all people, should offer himself up as proof positive
that no matter what a waste one has made of one’s life, it is ever possible to
find some path to redemption, however partial” (page 234).
8.
What did all of the individual stories add to
the main story of Ada and Inman? How did
they further your understanding of the Civil War?
9.
What did the character of Teague and the Home
Guard add to the story? Were they
important?
10.
What did you think of the ending?
11.
The novel has been compared to classics of the
Civil War, such as The Killer Angels.
Do you think it deserves that distinction?