Frankenstein
Prologue
1. The novel begins with a series of letters in which the narrator of the novel is writing his thoughts and plans to his sister.
Where is the narrator going? Why has he chosen to make this voyage? Of what does the narrator dream? What is his goal?
2. How has the narrator, Robert Walton, prepared for his great enterprise? What gives him the idea?
3. Why does Walton want a friend? How does he define a friend?
4. Walton says he is a “Romantic.” What is a Romantic person like?
5. What time of year is it when Walton begins his voyage?
6. Describe the strange thing that is seen by Walton and his crew.
7. Describe the man who later is brought on the ship. What does the man ask that is astonishing to Walton? Why do you
suppose he asks this; what does he want to do? How does Walton feel about this man? Why?
8. How does this man react to Walton’s dream or goal?
9. What story is the stranger going to tell Walton? Why is he going to share this story?
10. Who do you suppose will be the narrator of Chapter I?
Chapters 1-2
1. What are Frankenstein’s parents like? How do they feel about each other and about their child?
2. Who is Elizabeth? Describe her. How does she come to join the Frankenstein family?
3. How do people react to Elizabeth? How does Victor feel about Elizabeth?
4. How are Victor and Elizabeth different? What kind of person is Victor?
5. Who is Henry Clerval? What is he like? How is he different from Victor?
6. How does Elizabeth affect Victor and Henry?
7. At age eighteen what does Victor say is his passion, and what is the eventual result of it?
8. What does Victor want to accomplish in life?
9. Why does Victor turn to the study of mathematics? What prevents him from continuing this study?
Chapters 3-4
1. Identify the misfortune which he views as an omen of his future misery before he leaves for the university.
2. What does Victor’s mother say she wants for Victor and Elizabeth?
3. Henry cannot accompany Victor to the university, why?
4. How does Henry’s father relate to the themes of power and friendship?
5. Why does Victor not want to study the contemporary scientists suggested by M. Krempe?
6. After hearing Mr. Waldman’s lectures, what does Victor plan to do?
7. After two years of study, why does Victor consider going home?
8. During Victor’ s study of anatomy, what is it that keeps him from going home? What does he discover?
9. Why does Victor refuse to explain to Walton what he has discovered?
10. What task does Victor begin? Describe Victor’s feelings as he goes about his task.
11. What kind of studies does Victor say people should avoid?
12. What happens to Victor near the completion of his task?
Chapters 5-6
1. Describe the appearance of the creature that Frankenstein creates.
2. How does Dr. Frankenstein feel about his creation? What does he do after the creature comes to life?
3. Describe Victor Frankenstein’s disturbed dream.
4. What does Frankenstein do when the creature reaches out to him? What do you think is the creature’s reason for reaching
out for Dr. Frankenstein?
5. How does Victor feel when he realizes his creation has left his apartment? How does he behave right after this realization?
6. What does Victor find very tormenting?
7. After creating the monster, what does Victor study now?
8. According to Victor, why is Henry a good friend to him?
9. Describe Henry’s mood at the end of this chapter.
Chapters 7-8
1. What tragedy happens in Victor’s family?
2. How does Victor feel as he nears his home?
3. What does Victor see in the midst of a violent thunderstorm?
4. For what reason does Victor decide to remain silent about his monster?
5. Who has been accused of the murder and for what reason?
6. Why does Victor not tell anyone about his creation to clear Justine’s name?
7. Why does Victor think that Justine’s tortures do not equal his own?
8. Why does Elizabeth’s speech in court hurt Justine?
9. How does Justine show her goodness?
10. Do you think Victor is as guilty as he feels he is? Of what do you think he is guilty, if anything?
Chapters 9-10
1. What happens to Victor after Justine is put to death? What is his father’s opinion of
Victor’s “immoderate grief”?
2. What keeps Victor from killing himself?
3. What effect have these events had on Elizabeth?
4. What makes Victor go to Charmounix?
5. Explain: “I was a wreck—but nought had changed in those savage and enduring scenes.”
6. As Victor climbs the mountains, what effect do they have on him?
7. Why does Victor climb Montanvent in spite of the rain?
8. What are Victor’s feelings as his creation approaches him? What is the first thing he says to his creature?
9. Describe the expression on the creature’s face.
10. How does the creature respond to Victor?
11. With what does the creature threaten Victor?
12. What does the creature say about his present position?
13. For what reason does Victor follow the creature and listen to his story?
Chapters 11-12
1. How does the creature describe his first days of life?
2. Why does the creature decide to travel, and why is this a difficult decision for him?
3. How does the creature respond to fire?
4. What happens when the creature enters a village? Where does he end up staying?
5. How does the creature feel about the cottagers? At first, how does he react to the expression of emotions he observes them
displaying?
6. Although the creature wants to join these people, why does he decide not to?
7. How does the creature show understanding and kindness to this family?
8. What does the creature spend the winter doing, and what does this reveal about him?
9. What does the creature say he discovers about himself? What feelings does this discovery cause?
10. What does the creature plan to do regarding the family? How is he feeling at this point?
Chapters 13-14
1. Explain the second sentence of this chapter: “I shall relate events that impressed me with feelings which…have made me
what I am.”
2. How does the creature feel about spring?
3. What does the creature learn that changes Felix’s feelings from sorrow to joy?
4. What is the creature going to be able to learn now that Safie has arrived? What kind of progress does he make?
5. Explain why Safie wants to marry Felix. How does her father feel about this?
6. Why does Felix have to leave Safie for what he hopes is a short time?
7. What happens to Felix, his father, and sister?
8. What does Safie’s father do while in exile?
Chapters 15-16
1. Overall, what is the creature’s reaction to the cottagers?
2. What is the creature’s reaction to Milton’s poem Paradise Lost? According to the creature, how is he both like and dissimilar
to Adam?
3. What does the creature learn from papers found in Victor’s pocket?
4. For what does the creature hope, and what plans does he make to achieve this hope?
5. How does the old man react to the creature?
6. What happens when the others return?
7. How does the creature feel? What does he wish he had done? What is his next plan?
8. What happens to the cottagers? What is the creature’s reaction to this?
9. Why does the creature decide to go to Geneva? How have these horrible circumstances changed the creature?
10. What happens that makes the creature feel even more bitter?
11. Why does the creature kill William? How does the creature feel afterward?
12. What does the creature do with the portrait he takes from William?
13. What does the creature say Frankenstein must do?
Chapters 17-18
1. Why does the creature say he is malicious? Do you think his feelings are justified and/or understandable?
2. Why does the creature think he will be happy with a female like himself? Do you agree with him? Explain why or why not.
3. Describe Victor Frankenstein’s reaction to the monster’s request. What does he decide? Do you agree with his decision? Why
or why not?
4. What are Dr. Frankenstein’s feelings when he returns home?
5. Why does Victor not want to marry Elizabeth right away?
6. Why does Victor decide to go to England? How does he feel about Henry going with him?
7. Explain the following statement Victor makes: “But through the whole period during which I was the slave of my creature, I
allowed myself to be governed by the impulses of the moment.” Give examples of how this is true.
8. Contrast Henry and Victor.
9. Describe Henry and Victor’s journey. What is Henry’s opinion of the area around the Rhine?
10. How is Henry a Romantic?
11. How does Victor talk about Henry toward the end of this chapter?
Chapters 19-20
1. Describe Victor’s feelings as he journeys through England.
2. Why does Victor decide to go to Scotland?
3. Describe the place he picks to work. How does he feel about his labors?
4. Give four reasons why Victor changes his mind. Do you agree with his reasoning? Do you see anything wrong in his
decision?
5. What opinion does Victor have of his creation? Do you agree with this assessment of the creature?
6. What does Victor do after realizing the potential problems of creating a female monster? Who observes his actions?
7. What is your reaction to the creature’s speech? Do you agree with him at all? Do you think Victor has treated him fairly?
8. When does the creature say he will get his revenge?
9. Why does Victor leave Scotland?
10. What does Victor have to do before he leaves? Why does he feel this is an odious but necessary task?
11. What is the next fearful thing that happens to Victor?
12. What happens to Victor after he survives the storm and makes it to land?
Chapters 21-22
1. Who has been murdered, and why is Victor accused of the murder?
2. How does Victor feel when he regains consciousness?
3. What finally brings about his release?
4. Why does Victor want to return home? How has his mental condition deteriorated?
5. Why does Victor feel he can’t be with people? What opinion does Victor express about his creation?
6. Why doesn’t Victor tell of the creature’s existence and its crimes? Do you think he is right or wrong?
7. What is his father’s opinion of Victor?
8. The monster vowed to be with Victor on his wedding night. What has Victor assumed the monster’s meant? Could it have
some other meaning?
9. Why does Victor decide to marry Elizabeth immediately?
10. What will Victor tell Elizabeth after they are married? Give your opinion of this plan.
11. What precautions has Victor taken?
12. How does Elizabeth feel about the wedding? Why is she anxious?
13. What do you think will happen on Victor’s wedding night?
Chapters 23-24
1. What is Victor’s plan for dealing with the creature?
2. Why does Victor ask Elizabeth to retire without him? What sends him running to the bedroom?
3. What happens to Elizabeth in the bedroom? How does Victor’s father react to this bad news?
4. What action does Victor take? What is the result?
5. Victor, in his anger, says to the magistrate, “How ignorant art thou in thy pride of wisdom!” What is the irony in this?
6. Where does Victor meet his creature again, and why does the creature say he is satisfied?
7. How does the creature further torture Victor? Where is he leading Victor, and for what purpose?
8. What does Victor ask of Walton?
9. In his great despair, what is the only consolation Victor gets?
10. Explain Victor’s statement: “When I reflected on the work I had completed, no less a one than the creation of a sensitive
and rational animal, I could not rank myself with the herd of common projectors… All my speculations and hopes are as
nothing; and, like the archangel who aspired to omnipotence, I am chained in an eternal hell.”
11. Why does Walton dread a mutiny by his crew? What opinion does Victor express to the men concerning continuing the
journey?
12. What advice does Victor give Walton?
13. In your opinion, is the justification the creature offers for his actions adequate? What is his plan now?
The Kite Runner
Chapter 1: December 2001
1. What image does the narrator show at the beginning of the novel and what does it mean?
2. What literary tool or tools does Hosseini use in this chapter and how does his usage frame the story?
Chapter 2
1. Why does Hassan always do what Amir wants and never tells on Amir?
2. What does it mean that, in the picture of Baba and Rahim Khan, Amir is holding onto Rahim Khan?
3. Why did Amir go into Hassan’s home “only a handful of times”?
4. Why is Sanaubar’s leaving “far worse than death”?
5. Why does Amir recount the story about the nursing woman and Ali’s belief that feeding from the same breast leads to a
kinship stronger than time?
6. Amir’s first word was “Baba.” Hassan’s was “Amir.” How does this frame the rest of the story?
Chapter 3
1. What does Amir mean when he says, “I can never tell Baba from the bear”?
2. How does Baba’s snoring affect Amir?
3. Why does Amir tell Baba he thinks he has cancer?
4. Why does Amir hate the orphans?
5. Amir says, “… I had killed his beloved wife, his beautiful princess, hadn’t I? The least I could have done was to have had
the decency to have turned out a little more like him.” What does this mean and how does it affect Amir’s relationship with
Baba?
6. What is Afghanistan’s national passion, and what does it say about the country?
Chapter 4
1. Why did Baba never call Ali his “friend”?
2. Why were “most Hazaras” illiterate?
3. Why do the boys react differently to the story of Rostam and Sohrab?
4. What is the significance of Hassan’s question about Amir’s story?
Chapter 5
1. Why would Amir be envious of Hassan during the gunfire?
2. What does Assef mean when he says, “Too late for Hitler…[b]ut not for us”?
3. Why are the boys and their fathers so affected by the gift Baba gives to Hassan?
Chapter 6
1. What does Amir mean when he says, “Afghans cherish custom but abhor rules”?
2. What happens during the conversation between Amir and Hassan about eating dirt?
3. Why does Amir say he is a ghost in his father’s house?
Chapter 7
1. Why does Amir not apologize to Hassan for being rude about his dream?
2. Why does Hassan tell Amir about the dream?
3. How does the blood from the kite string accentuate the kite flying scene?
4. What is strange about Amir’s vision of himself and his father meeting in the same way as Rostam and Sohrab?
5. Why does Amir not give his hand to the fortune-teller?
6. What do you think Amir’s dream means?
7. What is the motivation behind Hassan’s rape?
8. Why does Amir not help Hassan?
9. Amir compares Hassan to the sacrificial lamb. Why is this significant?
10. What prejudicial thought enters the narrator’s mind as he runs away?
11. Why did Amir not want to see devotion in Hassan’s eyes after the rape?
12. What literary term is employed in describing the Hassan’s sacrifice as a “lamb,” and what other is used in describing
Amir’s words to Hassan?
Chapter 8
1. Why does Baba invite so many people on the trip to Jalalabad?
2. How is the relationship between Amir and Hassan emphasized in this chapter?
3. Why does Amir invite Hassan to the hill?
4. What is significant about the pomegranates growing on the hill?
5. Why does Rahim Khan tell Amir about Homaira?
Chapter 9
1. Why does Amir call his birthday gifts “blood money”?
2. Why is Rahim Khan’s present not considered blood money by Amir?
3. Why does Amir ask Baba if he had seen the new watch?
Chapter 10: March 1981
1. How does the confrontation between Baba and the Russian soldier make Amir feel?
2. Who is Kamal and what happened to him?
3. What first gives light in the tanker and why does it matter?
4. What happens to Kamal’s father?
Chapter 11: Fremont, California, 1980s
1. Why does Baba not want to take ESL classes?
2. Why does Amir say that the last time he sacrificed for Baba he damned himself?
3. Why is Amir surprised that Baba says he is going to become a “great” writer?
4. Whom does Amir meet, and what does he think of this person?
5. What is ironic about Baba’s statement, “[W]hat happens in a few days, sometimes even a single day, can change the
course of a whole lifetime”?
6. What is the literary term that describes the sentence, “America was a river, roaring along, unmindful of the past”?
Chapter 12
1. Why is General Taheri’s wife described as having “heartbreakingly eager, crooked smile and …barely veiled hope in her
eyes”?
2. What is the General’s reaction to Amir’s giving Soraya a short story?
3. Why does Baba refuse chemotherapy?
4. What significant thing does Amir ask of his ill father? What is the result?
Chapter 13
1. Why does Amir want to cry when he gives his notebook to Soraya?
2. Why does Amir say that Baba dies “on his own terms”?
3. Why does General Taheri not like Soraya’s choice to become a teacher?
4. Why does Amir think he and Soraya cannot have children?
5. After Amir’s novel is accepted for publication, what does he reminisce about?
Chapter 14: June 2001
1. How much time has passed since the last chapter? Why does Hosseini juxtapose the images of a man playing football with
his son and a pair of kites flying in the park?
2. What does Khala Jamila do when the general is in the hospital, and why does she do it?
3. Why can Amir not sleep on the plane to Pakistan?
Chapter 15
1. The previous time Amir and Rahim Khan had spoken on the phone, Baba had just died. The two only spoke for a few
minutes before they lost the intercontinental connection. How is this significant?
2. When Amir tells Rahim Khan about the stories he wrote in the journal that was his birthday present, Rahim Khan says he
does not remember it. Why is this mentioned?
3. What is the situation in Afghanistan as Khan describes it?
Chapter 16
1. Why does the narration shift from Amir to Rahim Khan in this chapter?
2. Why does Rahim Khan say that stepping on a land mine is a very Afghan way to die?
3. Hassan and his wife make a huge decision. What is it?
4. Who collapses at the front door?
5. After the Taliban “rolled in and put an end to the daily fighting,” what ironic event takes place?
Chapter 17
1. In the letter to Amir, Hassan tells him that the pomegranate tree they used to play near “hasn’t borne fruit in years.” How
is this a symbol, and for what?
2. What happened to Hassan and his wife?
3. What does Rahim Khan want from Amir?
4. What mystery is brought up in the final pages of this chapter?
Chapter 18
1. Why did everyone lie to Amir and Hassan about the boys’ upbringing?
2. Why did Rahim Khan summon Amir to Pakistan?
Chapter 19
1. Amir calls America a “great, big river” that would let him “forget.”To what does this allude?
2. Why does Farid dislike Amir?
3. What does Farid mean by “the real Afghanistan”?
4. Why does Amir cringe when Wahid calls him a “true Afghan”?
5. What does Amir give to Wahid’s sons and why is it significant?
6. Why does Amir dream that he is Hassan’s murderer?
Chapter 20
1. Why does Hosseini compare the tanks to dead animals?
2. Why does Farid open up to Amir on the journey? What is Kabul like?
3. Why does Farid call the Taliban “Beard Patrol”?
4. Why does the man at the orphanage not want to admit he knew Sohrab?
5. Why does Farid want to kill Zaman?
6. Why does Zaman continue to sell children?
Chapter 21
1. What does Amir find?
2. Why does Farid’s comment about Sohrab being Shi’a make Amir think Afghanistan is a “hopeless place”?
3. Why are the two people killed as the “halftime show” for the soccer match?
Chapter 22
1. What is significant about the fact that the house Amir and Farid go to is on the Street of the Guests?
2. What is surprising about the identity of the Talib who talks to Amir about taking the boy back?
3. What choice does Assef give Amir?
4. What is significant about the fact that Sohrab is the one who stops Assef? How is it accomplished?
Chapter 23
1. Why does Hosseini change from past tense to present?
2. What does Amir’s dream of Baba fighting the bear mean?
3. List some of the injuries Amir has.
4. What is ironic about Amir’s relationship with Sohrab?
5. Why had Rahim Khan lied to Amir about the Caldwells?
Chapter 24
1. What happens to Sohrab while Amir sleeps?
2. Why does Amir laugh when Mr. Fayyaz tells him that Afghanis are reckless?
3. What does it mean when Amir says, “There are a lot of children in Afghanistan, but little childhood,” and how does it
relate to Sohrab?
4. Why would Baba have been ashamed of himself regarding Hassan and Amir?
5. Explain the significance of the television show that is on when Amir and Sohrab return from their picnic.
6. What is significant about the decision Amir makes to be completely truthful with Soraya?
7. Why does Amir ask Soraya to not tell her parents of Sohrab’s origins?
8. Why does Amir ask Mr. Andrews if he has children; what is the outcome of the question?
9. Why does Sohrab not ask about the meeting between Amir and Andrews?
10. What obstacles arise about Amir’s trying to bring Sohrab to the United States?
11. What does the sour apples story say about Sohrab?
12. What happens at the end of the chapter?
Chapter 25
1. What is significant about Amir praying in the hospital?
2. What is the significance of the various characters sleeping so much?
3. What does Amir make sure the General understands?
4. What kind of child is Sohrab? What incident offers some hope?
Outliers
Introduction: The Roseto Mystery
1. What does Gladwell include at the beginning of the book? Why do you think he includes it?
2. In what ways do the Italian immigrants bring their homeland with them?
3. Why were residents of Roseto, Pennsylvania, almost exclusively from the same region of Italy?
4. Who is Stewart Wolf and why did he come to Roseto?
5. How was the study of Roseto conducted?
6. What did sociologist John Bruhn and the graduate students discover?
7. How did Wolf explain the healthiness of the Rosetans?
8. Why was the medical establishment reluctant to accept Wolf’s explanation?
9. Why does the author include the story of Stewart Wolf and Roseto in the introduction?
Part One: Opportunity
Chapter 1: The Matthew Effect
1. Why is the hockey game between the Medicine Hat Tigers and Vancouver Giants significant?
2. How is Canadian hockey a meritocracy?
3. What is the typical “profoundly wrong” way people “make sense of success”?
4. What is Gladwell’s argument about explanations for success?
5. Identify and explain the extended metaphor the author uses about the growth of a tree.
6. What pattern can be found in the 2007 player roster of the Medicine Hat Tigers?
7. How does Gladwell alter the recounting of the play-by-play of the game? What purpose does this alteration serve?
8. What is the reason for the relative age phenomenon in hockey?
9. How does a “self-fulfilling prophecy” cause the boys identified as the most talented hockey players in their age range to
become the best players?
10. In what sports is relative age not a factor, and why is it not?
11. Relative age bias is a concern in what area other than sports?
12. What research does Gladwell discuss to quantify the relative age bias that exists outside of sports?
13. Why is this phenomenon of “accumulative advantage” called the “Matthew Effect”?
14. What are the implications of systems that are skewed based on relative age?
15. What does Gladwell suggest to alleviate the Matthew Effect?
16. How do Gord Wasden’s comments about his son, a player for the Medicine Hat Tigers, reinforce Gladwell’s argument?
Chapter 2: The 10,000 Hour Rule
1. What was special about the University of Michigan’s Computer Center?
2. Who is Bill Joy?
3. What are some of Bill Joy’s accomplishments?
4. Psychologists have been debating over what aspects of achievement?
5. How did psychologist K. Anders Ericsson study musicians? What pattern does he find?
6. What do Ericsson’s results indicate about talent?
7. How does Gladwell relate the ten-thousand-hour rule to potential late-born prodigies on Czech or Canadian sports teams?
8. According to Gladwell’s calculations, why are so few people able to reach mastery level of specific skills?
9. How is the story of Bill Joy reframed in light of the ten-thousand-hour rule?
10. What opportunity did the Beatles have to practice extensively? What role did geography play?
11. When beginning to retell the biography of Bill Gates, how does Gladwell alter his sentence structure? What rhetorical
purpose might this variation serve?
12. How did Gates’s privileged background contribute to his success?
13. Identify where in the story of Bill Gates anaphora is used and the purpose it serves.
14. What is “the rule” to famous software billionaires, rock bands, and star athletes?
15. What is especially interesting about the “list of the seventy-five richest people in human history”?
16. What is the explanation for the unexpected demographics of the seventy-five richest people in human history?
17. What theory does Gladwell develop about the Silicon Valley business tycoons?
18. How well does Gladwell’s theory work?
19. What advantage did Steve Jobs have over other young people in computer programming?
20. What is the formula for these successful business people?
Chapter 3: The Trouble with Geniuses, Part 1
1. Why does Gladwell introduce Christopher Langan by bringing up his appearance on the television show 1 vs. 100?
2. What information does Gladwell provide to exemplify Langan’s genius?
3. What inspired Stanford psychology professor Lewis Terman to look for gifted children?
4. What was the group of young geniuses that Terman selected called? How is this nickname ironic?
5. In what ways are Terman’s ideas about intelligence and success still part of cultural attitudes?
6. How do graphics help Gladwell articulate his point about IQ tests?
7. How do IQ test scores translate to success in real life?
8. What does Gladwell mean when he states that “IQ has a threshold”?
9. Gladwell lists the universities from which recent American winners of the Nobel Prize in Medicine and the American Nobel
laureates in Chemistry received their undergraduate degrees. What do these lists demonstrate?
10. Does Gladwell support affirmative action? Why or why not?
11. How does a divergence test differ from a traditional IQ test? What advantages does a divergence test have?
12. What were the results of Terman’s study of selected geniuses according to Gladwell?
Chapter 4: The Trouble with Geniuses, Part 2
1. How did Chris Langan’s background affect his academic success?
2. What does Gladwell find strange about Langan’s story?
3. Compare Chris Langan and Robert Oppenheimer.
4. What is “practical intelligence”?
5. Sociologist Annette Lareau extensively observed families from diverse backgrounds. What were her findings on parenting
styles?
6. How does this information on practical intelligence and parenting styles apply to Langan and Oppenheimer?
7. Why does Gladwell bring up Terman’s geniuses again?
Chapter 5: The Three Lessons of Joe Flom
1. What does Gladwell consider remarkable about Joe Flom’s rise to becoming a named partner at “one of the largest and most
powerful law firms in the world”?
2. How does Gladwell use suspense in this nonfiction book to keep readers intrigued?
3. What is the purpose of Alexander Bickel’s story?
4. In what ways were the “old-line law firms of New York” exclusive?
5. How did the old-line law firms’ exclusivity inadvertently benefit people like Joe Flom?
6. Gladwell describes how Maurice Janklow did not become particularly successful, while his son Mort made great
achievements. How does this account relate to Gladwell’s earlier points?
7. Identify the two literary devices Gladwell uses when comparing Mort and Maurice Janklow’s lives.
8. How does Gladwell re-analyze Terman’s genius study in order to apply the data to the timing of successful Jewish lawyers?
9. What advantages did people born in the “demographic trough” during the 1930s have that other generations did not?
10. Why did Jewish immigrants have an advantage over other people who immigrated to America?
11. What are the three qualities of meaningful work, according to Gladwell?
12. What did the children of garment workers learn from their parents? How does this relate to previously mentioned ideas?
13. What data does Gladwell provide to support his claim that successful lawyers in New York City are the children of Jewish
immigrants who worked in the garment industry?
Part Two: Legacy
Chapter 6: Harlan, Kentucky
1. Why does Gladwell provide detailed descriptions of the Cumberland Plateau?
2. What pattern occurred in the Cumberland Plateau from the 1860s until the early 1900s?
3. What is the explanation for these incidents?
4. Dov Cohen and Richard Nisbett performed a psychology experiment to determine if “remnants of the culture of honor” could
be found in the “modern era.” What did the results of the experiment indicate?
5. In what way does the idea of “cultural legacies” expand on Gladwell’s earlier points?
Chapter 7: The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes
1. What does the opening account of Korean Air flight 801 imply?
2. Why might Gladwell have included the quote from Korean president, Kim Dae-jung: “The issue of Korean Air is not a matter
of an individual company but a matter of the whole country.”?
3. How does Gladwell explain the primary causes of plane crashes?
4. Who is Suren Ratwatte, and why does Gladwell quote him extensively in this chapter?
5. What purpose does Ratwatte’s anecdote about flying from Dubai to New York City serve?
6. On what does Gladwell focus as he analyzes the black box data from the plane crashes?
7. While analyzing the transcript from the Avianca flight, Gladwell says: “If it were not the prelude to a tragedy, their back-andforth would resemble an Abbott and Costello routine.” Identify the literary terms in this statement.
8. Why is social hierarchy a cause of plane crashes? How does this factor relate to cultural legacy?
9. How does Gladwell expand the analysis of the flight recorder transcript from Korean Air 801?
10. What explanation does Gladwell give when he explains the “three classic preconditions of a plane crash”? What are those
conditions?
11. What specific cultural issues does Gladwell address in regards to the crash of KAL flight 801?
12. How did Korean Air address the communication problems between their captains and flight crews? How does this change
relate to cultural legacy?
Chapter 8: Rice Paddies and Math Tests
1. What purpose does the description and background of the rice paddies serve?
2. How does Gladwell make his point about the inherent advantage of the Chinese number system clear to the reader?
3. What rhetorical techniques does Gladwell use before stating his argument that the demands of growing rice can create a
culture in which people are better at math?
4. How, according to Gladwell’s concept, does rice farming differ from other types of agriculture?
5. Gladwell relates rice farming to what previously mentioned topic? How does this connection bolster his argument?
6. What do the Chinese proverbs illustrate?
7. What rhetorical device does Gladwell use to avoid alienating readers before discussing Renee’s attempts to solve a math
problem?
8. How does the example of Renee’s puzzling out a math problem demonstrate that Asians’ better math scores are a result of
their hard work rather than because of any innate ability?
9. What correlation exists between the math rankings of the TIMSS and the rankings of the questionnaires? How is this
correlation significant to Gladwell’s argument?
Chapter 9: Marita’s Bargain
1. What is surprising about KIPP Academy in terms of its location, demographics, and the quality of its students?
2. Why does Gladwell discuss early nineteenth-century reformers who set out to establish a public education system in the
United States?
3. How does Gladwell explain American educational reforms?
4. Examine Gladwell’s next chart. What impact does summer vacation seem to have on test scores? Why, according to the book,
does it have this effect?
5. What study does Gladwell bring up again when discussing the difference in test scores after summer vacation?
6. In what ways is KIPP trying to separate itself from the cultural legacy of American schools? What culture is it more similar
to?
7. How does the KIPP school schedule affect teachers and students? What ideas does Gladwell reiterate in his account of the
classroom?
8. Why is KIPP not an ideal solution for helping low-income children excel in school?
9. How does Gladwell tie the various components of Outliers together?
10. What lesson does the author want readers to take away after reading the book?
Epilogue: A Jamaican Story
1. Why does Gladwell tell a “false” story about his mother’s path to success?
2. What role did history play in the lives of Joyce and Faith Nation?
3. How does Gladwell use his mother’s story to support his point about success?
Brave New World
Chapter 1
1. What are some indications within the first several pages that suggest Brave New World is a futuristic novel?
2. In Brave New World, Huxley provides the necessary exposition by having the expert explain the situation to the novice who
knows little about it. Specifically, the Director is explaining the activities of the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning
Centre to a group of students. At the start of the novel, why do you think the reader is not told directly what is being hatched?
3. In a short summary, explain what happens in the Hatchery. Include details about the process as well as definitions for any of
the terminology.
4. The process that each egg undergoes is not only related to the work that particular individual eventually will do, but it is also
directly related to the type of person he or she will become. List the five types of people in this world.
5. Explain the differences among the five types of people. How is a person’s classification determined? What is the reason for
categorizing people this way?
6. In this World State, what is the primary function of The Hatchery and Conditioning Centre?
7. In what way is Huxley’s presentation of the Director satirical? Provide an example from the text to support your answer.
8. Describe and explain the response of the students to the Director.
9. Who are Henry Foster and Lenina Crowne? What is your opinion of each?
10. What might be annoying about the Director’s and Mr. Foster’s explanations?
11. According to the Director, in what way is the Bokanovsky process a major instrument of social stability?
12. Explain the motto, “Community, Identity, Stability.”
13. What are some actual scientific principles presented in this chapter? According to Mr. Foster, what problem exists in the
Hatcheries that is “all but solved”?
14. Considering the scientific principles that have been established in the new world, what do you think the State sees for the
future of society?
Chapter 2
1. Briefly explain what happens in the Conditioning Centre. Through what process do the infants become conditioned?
2. In Chapter One, the date was given as “this year of stability, A.F. 632.” In this chapter, Huxley hints at the meaning of this
odd dating system. What does A.F. stand for, and what does A.D. stand for?
3. Describe the type of religion practiced in Huxley’s futuristic world. Whom do these people consider as their god? Why?
4. Why are the Delta children conditioned to dislike books and nature?
5. Why can hypnopaedia be used to inculcate moral beliefs and emotional attitudes but cannot be used to learn science?
6. Near the end of Chapter Two, what does Huxley state is the aim of the new world’s conditioning?
7. At the end of the chapter, the Director says that the conditioned mind is made up of suggestions from the State. He begins to
add, “It therefore follows….” However, he is interrupted before he can finish the sentence. What do you think he would have
said to complete that thought?
Chapter 3
1. Throughout the novel, Huxley uses names symbolically and satirically, often referencing notable thinkers, politicians, and
historical figures within his characters’ names. For example, as previously noted, Lenina’s first name resembles the last name of
Communist leader Vladimir Lenin. What other significant names can you identify up to this point in the novel?
2. What is meant by the paragraph following the Controller’s declaration, “History is bunk”?
3. Throughout Mond’s lecture, Huxley switches back and forth to other scenes and conversations that are happening elsewhere
at the same time. How are these other scenes and dialogues related to Mond’s lecture?
4. What contradictions do you see between what Mond says and what the others are expressing?
5. Find an example of something in this society that you find disturbing. Explain the reasons this idea disturbs you.
6. What are you able to understand about the drug “soma,” and what is your opinion of this drug?
7. In your opinion, why do people in this new world need soma?
8. As the chapter progresses, what do you notice about the shifting of scenes and speakers?
9. How do the Controllers of the new world define happiness? State why you agree or disagree with the Controllers’ definitions.
10. Why does so much effort go into conditioning people to be consumers? What aspect of his own society might Huxley be
satirizing?
11. According to Mond, what social problems have been eliminated in Brave New World?
12. What are people giving up to achieve these goals?
13. Do you think that anything like this is happening now or might happen in the future? Consider the fact that Huxley wrote
this book in 1931, and take into account the many scientific advances since then.
14. At this point, what is your opinion of Huxley’s new world? Is it a utopia or a dystopia? What, if anything, appeals to you
about the new world? What aspects, if any, do you find unpleasant or disagreeable?
Chapter 4
1.What is your opinion of Lenina? Include some specific examples of things Lenina says or does that have influenced your
point of view.
2. State why you think that Lenina can or cannot be any different than she is.
3. What makes Bernard stand out among the people of the new world?
4. In Section Two of Chapter Four, the narrator gives an explanation of Bernard’s problems. List the things that trouble
Bernard. Do you think Bernard is in any way responsible for his own problems?
5. What evidence indicates that Bernard believes people are spying on him? Assuming he is being spied upon, what might be
the reason(s) for it?
6. Compare Helmholtz to Bernard. Explain both their similarities and their differences.
7. Huxley has introduced two characters that stand in opposition to the new world. What do you see as the significance of these
characters?
8. What is the meaning of the frequently repeated word, “pneumatic”?
9. Chapter Four offers vivid scenes and images of a future world. Describe one clear mental image that you have of Huxley’s
imaginary world. Include some description of the dress and color system of the different castes.
Chapter 5
1. Briefly summarize the Solidarity Service that Bernard attends. What happens at the service?
What is the goal of it? Include details from the scene in your description.
2. How does Bernard feel about the Solidarity Service?
3. Near the beginning of the chapter, Henry states, “Everybody’s happy now,” to which Lenina agrees. What is wrong with this
assessment?
4. What satire do you find in this chapter?
Chapter 6
1. The style of Brave New World is “dialogic,” which means several people with different points of view interact, but no one
voice is able to predominate. Consider the interaction between Lenina and Bernard in Part One of this chapter. What point of
view does each express or represent? Cite examples from the text to support your answer.
2. Consider Lenina’s reaction to Bernard. She refuses to look at the sea; she insists on taking soma; she attempts “to stop the
ears of her mind.” The narrator tells us she is “determined to preserve her incomprehension intact.” What conclusions can you
draw about Lenina’s attitude and position? Find examples to demonstrate your conclusion.
3. Find examples from Chapter Six to support the assertion that Bernard’s protest is more talk than action. What is Helmholtz’s
reaction to his friend’s description of the encounter with the Director?
4. What other conclusions can you draw regarding Bernard?
5. What is your opinion of the Director’s treatment of Bernard?
6. In the exposition, what information about earlier events is the reader given in Chapter Six?
What can you infer from the Director’s story? What two literary terms can you identify in relation to the Director’s story?
7. When Bernard learns that the Director is actually going to send him to Iceland, what is his reaction?
8. What can be considered amusing about the scene with the Warden of the Reservation?
Chapter 7
1. What is ironic about Lenina’s comment, “And you feel so small when you’re on the ground at the bottom of a hill”?’
2. Bernard and Lenina meet a woman on the Reservation. Who is this woman, and how is she connected to the new world?
3. In what ways is Huxley’s description of Lenina’s reaction to the Indian Reservation satirical?
What makes Lenina seem foolish? How might this apply to our attitudes today?
4. What is the effect of Huxley’s focus on Lenina’s reaction to the woman nursing a child?
What is your reaction to Lenina’s response?
5. How do you feel about Linda? Why, in your opinion, has Linda had problems?
6. Compare Linda and Lenina as they stand together.
7. Explain the irony in Linda’s speech about life on the Reservation.
8. What do you predict will take place between John and Lenina and between John and Bernard?
9. Do you think that Lenina would have ended up any different than Linda if Lenina had been left behind on the Reservation?
Cite specifics to support your generalizations.
Chapter 8
1. What do you find the most interesting about the details of John’s life as described in Chapter Eight? Explain your choices.
2. Compare John and Bernard.
3. Why does Shakespeare have such meaning for John?
4. What theories about “the Other Place” does John have? What gave him these ideas? On the final page of this chapter, an
example of irony occurs as John reveals his expectations about the new world. Identify and explain this instance of irony.
5. What do you think will happen to John and Linda in London? Support your prediction with details from the chapter.
Chapter 9
1. What are Bernard’s motives for bringing John back to London with him?
2. When John is alone looking at Lenina sleeping, what are his thoughts?
Chapter 10
1. This short chapter contains several instances of irony. Identify as many as you can.
2. What is your opinion of the Director’s statement: “…no offence is so heinous as unorthodoxy of behavior. Murder kills only
the individual—and, after all, what is an individual?…We can make a new one with the greatest of ease…Unorthodoxy
threatens more than the life of a mere individual; it strikes at Society itself…”?
Chapter 11
1. At this point in the novel, how do you feel about Bernard? What are your feelings toward Lenina? Consider how people in
the new world, including Bernard’s friend Helmholtz, feel about Bernard.
2. What do people say behind Bernard’s back? How might these comments act as foreshadowing?
3. At the feely, John and Lenina view/experience what would today be considered a pornographic movie. What happens
afterward?
4. What do you see as the main difference between John and Linda and the other characters, those of the new world?
Chapter 12
1. “Pierced by every word that was spoken, the tight balloon of Bernard’s happy self-confidence was leaking from a thousand
wounds.” What figure of speech is employed in the quotation?
How does Huxley extend this particular figure of speech over the next two pages?
2. John clashes with the people, the ideas, and the practices of the new world. Describe two specific incidents that illustrate
these conflicts.
3. In each of the incidents, one of the characters of the new world tries to make his or her position clear to John. Explain each
person’s opposition to John, and copy a short quotation that best expresses the person’s argument. Then, explain John’s
response to this person, and state whether you agree or disagree with John’s point of view
4. In the middle of Chapter Twelve, Huxley describes the Controller rejecting a paper called “A New Theory of Biology.” The
Controller will not allow the paper to be published because it challenges the idea of “happiness as the Sovereign Good,” and he
thinks this might unsettle people in the higher castes. However, the Controller agrees with the paper’s idea that the goal of life is
outside the human sphere, and “the purpose of life [is] not the maintenance of well-being, but some intensification and refining
of consciousness, some enlargement of knowledge.” What do you think is Huxley’s point in this section?
5. Although scientific advances of the past have given humans the ability to control human reproduction and disease in the new
world, what seems to be the attitude of the government toward science? How is this attitude demonstrated as Mustapha Mond
reads the paper called “A New Theory of Biology”?
6. Using quotations and examples, support the statement that Bernard is miserable, vengeful, jealous, resentful, and ashamed of
his weaknesses, which makes him even more resentful.
7. Do you think Bernard has less character than most people would in his circumstances? Remember that he is undersized for
his caste and has suffered persecution as a result. Consider his behavior and personality so far. Would you be friends with
Bernard? Explain why or why not.
8. At this point in the novel, Bernard, John, and Helmholtz have all exhibited unorthodox behavior. Give examples to support
this statement.
9. What do you predict will happen to Bernard, John, and Helmholtz?
10. The power of great art to influence and affect people is a theme in this chapter. For example, Helmholz views Romeo and
Juliet as a “superb piece of emotional engineering.” He later describes Shakespeare as a “marvellous propaganda technician”
and tells John that a person has to hurt to write “penetrating, X-rayish phrases.” Do you think that great art or writing
can impact or control people’s feelings? Do you agree with Helmholtz that great art is necessarily related to passion and pain?
Illustrate your opinion with real-life examples.
Chapter 13
1. People in the new world do not experience passion, so they have to be given treatments. For instance, Henry Foster tells
Lenina to get “an extra strong V.P.S. treatment.” In addition, women get a “pregnancy substitute,” and the characters take soma
on a regular basis so they can escape feeling passions. What conclusion can you draw from these facts?
2. According to gossip, Bernard’s small size is the result of an accident in which alcohol had been poured into his bottle by
mistake. What detail is the reader given at the start of Chapter Thirteen that might suggest that the gossip is true?
3. Summarize what happens between John and Lenina when she comes to his house. What is each of them thinking and feeling?
How do they communicate and interact with one another?
4. In the first few pages of the chapter, Lenina confides to Fanny her feelings for John, stating, “I shall always like him.”
However, at the end of the chapter, her response to John’s remarks about marriage is genuine shock. What do you find ironic
about this? What idea about love
is suggested to you by this contradiction?
5. The chapter ends with a frightened Lenina tiptoeing out of John’s door and then running
toward the elevator, desperate to get away. How do you feel about her situation? What do
you think will happen to her in the coming chapters?
6. By referring to the text, support the statement that John is not a hypocrite.
Chapter 14
1. Explain John’s behavior in the hospital with his dying mother. What does he do, and why does
he behave this way? How does the nurse react to him, and why does she react in this fashion?
2. Summarize what happens in the incident with the children who are being death-conditioned.
How does John react toward them, and why? What is the nurse’s response?
3. Describe the mental picture you have of the Hospital for the Dying.
4. Find a quotation in this chapter in which Huxley satirizes the loss of any knowledge of God.
Chapter 15
1. How does John disrupt the soma distribution process? What are his reasons for doing so?
What is the reaction of the crowd and the police?
2. Explain the context and meaning of the following quotation from Chapter Fifteen. What is Huxley satirizing in this particular
passage? The Savage stood looking on. “O brave new world, O brave new world…” In his mind the singing words seemed to
change their tone…Miranda was proclaiming the possibility of loveliness, the possibility of transforming even the nightmare
into something fine and noble.
3. What is your opinion of Bernard and Helmholtz’s behavior at the soma distribution riot?
What do you expect will happen now that Bernard, Helmholtz, and John have all been taken away by the police?
4. What is ironic about the fact that the new world still has a police force, which appears on the scene quickly?
Chapter 16
1. In this chapter, what surprising information does the reader learn about Mustapha Mond?
2. As he explains why Othello and other classic tragedies could not be written in the new world, Mond uses an analogy to make
his point. He explains, “You can’t make flivvers without steel—and you can’t make tragedies without social instability.”
Explain the analogy. What does Mond mean? What other reasons does he give for the inability of people in the new world to
understand tragedy?
3. What happened with the experiment of an all-Alpha society?
4. Why is Bernard ignored during Mond’s discussion with John and Helmholtz?
Chapter 17
1. As Huxley summarizes his ideas, the dialogic quality of the novel is heightened. This is demonstrated in the dialogue
between John and Mustapha Mond. The argumentative nature of their discussion appears in four ways: A.) Their goal is to
arrive at truth by exposing the contradictions in each other’s argument. B.) Parts of the discussion are in a question and
answer format. C.) There is a logical structure, which holds their continuous argument together. D.) Each man voices a set of
principles. The two sets of principles are in opposition, creating an interplay of contradictory principles. Find an example of
each of the points listed above. You can quote some of the dialogue in your answer.
2. As this debate progresses, with whom do you find yourself agreeing?
3. Do you see any evidence of Mond’s viewpoint in today’s world?
Chapter 18
1. At the beginning of the chapter, Bernard and Helmholtz visit John to say goodbye. What is your impression of this final
meeting between the three of them?
2. Describe John’s new home.
3. How does John feel about his new home?
4. One day after arriving at the lighthouse, John finds himself pleasantly lost in a particular activity. What type of work gives
him such pleasure? After realizing how content he had been feeling during his work, what are his thoughts? Why does he feel
this way?
5. Shortly after the three Delta-Minus workers witness John whipping himself, a reporter from the new world arrives to intrude
upon John’s solitude. What does the reporter want? How does John react to the reporter’s questioning?
6. When John is resting one afternoon, he suddenly finds himself having lustful thoughts of Lenina. How does he deal with
these thoughts? Why does he react in this manner?
7. As John is busy in his garden, a swarm of helicopters arrives, and hundreds of people from the new world descend upon him.
What causes the people to come to the lighthouse? What do they begin chanting?
8. As the mob continues chanting, another helicopter descends and Lenina steps out. Describe her behavior and body language
as she looks at John. Based on this description, do you think that Lenina has changed? Explain your answer.
9. How does John react to Lenina? What causes him to respond this way? How is the crowd partially responsible for John’s
reaction?
10. Explain the events leading up to John’s suicide. Why do you think he kills himself?
11. How does Huxley describe John’s suicide? What is symbolically significant about the description?
The Things They Carried
Chapter 1: The Things They Carried
1. Give a description of Martha. How do Martha and Jimmy Cross feel about each other?
2. Why is it significant that Martha never mentions the war in her letters? What does she represent?
3. List some items that the men carry. How do certain items reflect the individual?
4. What does the author intend by relaying the weights of all the items the men carry?
5. What is the opening setting of the novel?
6. Explain what the author means about Martha’s world when he writes, “She belonged to another world, which was not quite
real.”
7. What does it mean that the men use “a hard vocabulary to contain the terrible softness”? Why is it terrible to be internally
soft?
8. Describe some of the intangible things that the men carry.
9. What are freedom birds? Why do the men feel guilty for dreaming about them?
10. Why does Jimmy burn Martha’s letters and pictures?
11. What does throwing away the good-luck pebble symbolize?
Chapter 2: Love
1. How does the point-of-view in chapter two differ from chapter one?
2. Jimmy sees Martha at a college reunion and they spend the day together. What does Martha’s body language towards Jimmy
imply?
3. What is Martha’s response when Jimmy tells her that he still loves her? How is her response explained?
4. Why do you suppose Jimmy still loves Martha after she makes it clear that she has no interest in him?
5. How does the chapter’s title relate to events in the chapter?
Chapter 3: Spin
1. The chapter opens with an anecdote about Azar and a Vietnamese boy with one leg.
What do you suppose Azar’s reaction to the boy means?
2. What does Mitchell Sanders do with his body lice?
3. How does the author compare checkers to Vietnam and the war?
4. Explain how the following passage about boredom in the war is ironic.
“Even in the deep bush, where you could die any number of ways, the war was nakedly and aggressively boring. But it was a
strange boredom. It was boredom with a twist, the kind of boredom that caused stomach disorders.”
5. The author relays a story about a soldier who goes AWOL and finds peace, but then he returns to battle, saying, “All that
peace, man, it felt so good it hurt. I want to hurt it back.” What does the soldier mean by this statement?
6. Who is the narrator of the novel?
7. Why is this chapter called Spin?
Chapter 4: On the Rainy River
1. Describe the tone in the beginning of the chapter.
2. What view on war has O’Brien maintained since he was in college?
3. How does O’Brien react when he receives his draft notice, and why?
4. Describe the author’s job during the summer of 1968. How is his job ironic when compared to his earlier statement, “The
sight of blood made me queasy.”
5. Who is Elroy Berdahl? How does he help O’Brien?
6. What does the author mean when he says, “The man knew.”
7. What keeps O’Brien from running to Canada?
8. What is the significance of the “Emergency Fund” that Elroy gives O’Brien?
9. On the sixth day, when Elroy and O’Brien go fishing, Elroy takes the boat twenty yards off the Canadian coast. O’Brien faces
the decision of staying on the boat or swimming to shore, which he describes as “the wooded frontier.” Explain how O’Brien’s
description of the Canadian coastline is symbolic of this juncture in his life.
10. O’Brien almost jumps ship to Canada, but does not. What reason does he give for not jumping?
11. Are there other reasons for going to the war that O’Brien does not list?
Chapter 5: Enemies
1. Who are the enemies in this chapter?
2. What do they fight about?
3. Who wins the fight? How does the winner act after the fight?
4. Why does Dave Jensen break his nose with a pistol?
5. What is ironic about the end of the chapter?
Chapter 6: Friends
1. Who are the friends in this chapter?
2. What is the contract that the two friends make with each other? How is this contract peculiar?
3. What happens to Strunk?
4. Do Strunk and Jensen keep their pact with one another?
5. Explain why the news of Strunk’s death “seemed to relieve Dave Jensen of an enormous relief.”
Chapter 7: How to Tell A True War Story
1. Discuss the opening line, “This is true.” How does this line prepare the reader for the story?
2. Who does Rat Kiley write a letter to? Why does he put so much detail and effort into the letter?
3. Does Rat receive a response to his letter? How does it make him feel?
4. How does Curt Lemon die?
5. List some of the elements that, according to O’Brien, compose a true war story.
6. O’Brien writes about true war stories in the following passage:
“In many cases a true war story cannot be believed. If you believe it, be skeptical. It’s a question of credibility. Often the crazy
stuff is true and the normal stuff isn’t, because the normal stuff is necessary to make you believe the truly incredible craziness.”
Why are normal details necessary in a war story if they are not true?
7. Summarize the story that Mitchell Sanders tells O’Brien?
8. What details does Sanders add to his story in order to make it more believable?
9. What does Sanders mean when he gives the moral of his story by saying, “That quiet— just listen. There’s your moral.”
10. Why does Rat Kiley kill the baby water buffalo? Describe the emotions he experiences.
11. Why is the scene where Kiley brutally murders the baby water buffalo so disturbing?
12. Explain what the author means about the beauty of war in the following passage:
“The truths are contradictory. It can be argued, for instance, that war is grotesque. But in truth war is also beauty. For all its
horror, you can’t help but gape at the awful majesty of combat.”
13. Explain how “proximity to death brings with it a corresponding proximity to life.”
14. Why does the author say that this story is not a war story, but a love story?
15. O’Brien explains that he can change all the details in his story, such as the names, places, and events, because they are
irrelevant in relaying the truth. What kind of truth is O’Brien trying to communicate if not actual fact?
Chapter 8: The Dentist
1. Describe the dentist and what he does for the men.
2. Who is afraid to visit the dentist? Why is this ironic when compared to his description?
3. How does this person act in the dentist’s office? What does he do to redeem himself?
Chapter 9: Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong
1. Does the author believe the story of the sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong? Cite evidence supporting your answer.
2. Who is Mark Fossie? What does he do?
3. Give a description of the outpost, which the narrator describes as “isolated and vulnerable,” and the surrounding terrain.
4. Describe the Greenies.
5. Describe Mary Anne when she arrives at the medical unit.
6. How does Mary Anne behave after she arrives?
7. How does Mary Anne begin to change?
8. Mary Anne cannot be found one night. Where does Fossie believe she is? Where is she and what is she doing?
9. What is the compromise that Mary Anne and Mark make after her night on ambush?
10. Does their compromise last? What happens to Mary Anne?
11. After Mary Anne returns from her trip with the Greenies, the author writes, “In a sense she never returned. Not entirely, not
all of her.” What does this statement mean?
12. The author leaves Mary Anne’s fate unknown. Would knowing exactly what happens to her after she leaves camp make this
story better? What is the moral of the story?
Chapter 10: Stockings
1. How is Henry Dobbins “like America itself?”
2. Where and why does Dobbins wear stockings?
3. How does the platoon react to Dobbins’ superstitious behavior?
Chapter 11: Church
1. Why does Kiowa say it is wrong to set up in a church?
2. Why does Kiowa want to be a minister? How is part of his reasoning ironic?
3. The monks often make a “strange washing motion” with their hands. What do you suppose the motion means?
Chapter 12: The Man I Killed
1. Why does O’Brien begin the chapter with a vivid description of the dead man’s wounds?
2. O’Brien gives a hypothetical, detailed description of the dead man’s life. What is the significance of writing this?
3. What does Kiowa say to make Tim feel better and to stop staring at the body?
4. How does the reader know that Tim O’Brien is still bothered by this incident when he writes this book?
Chapter 13: Ambush
1. O’Brien does not tell his nine-year-old daughter, Kathleen, that he killed someone in the war because it seems the right thing
to do. Do you agree with him?
2. O’Brien tells the same story twice; one version is brief and the other is detailed. How does this explain his comment, “This is
why I keep writing war stories”?
matter of live or die. There was no real peril. Almost certainly the young man would have passed by.” What is his reason for
killing the man?
Chapter 14: Style
1. Why is the girl dancing?
2. Why does the girl cover her ears when she is dancing?
3. Why does Dobbins get upset with Azar?
4. Why does Tim O’Brien include this chapter?
Chapter 15: Speaking of Courage
1. Describe the area around the lake.
2. List a few of the things Norman Bowker passes during his many laps around the lake.
3. How do Norman’s thoughts correspond with driving around the lake?
4. Norman does not stop to talk to Sally Gustafson because “there was really nothing he could say to her.” What does he mean
by this?
5. Why is the title of this chapter ironic?
6. Why can Norman not tell anyone about how he almost won the Silver Star? Does he really care about the Silver Star?
7. Describe the events surrounding Kiowa’s death.
8. Why does Norman blame himself for Kiowa’s death?
9. How does this chapter speak of courage?
10. Identify a flashback in this chapter.
Chapter 16: Notes
1. What is Norman’s letter to O’Brien about?
2. In an excerpt from his letter, Norman talks about “whiner-vets” and “patriotic idiots.”
What is his complaint about these people?
3. Why does Norman ask O’Brien to write about Kiowa’s death?
4. Does O’Brien consider his writing therapeutic? Explain your answer.
5. Why is Norman disappointed with O’Brien’s short story “Speaking of Courage”?
6. What happens to Norman Bowker?
Chapter 17: In the Field
1. What are the men looking for in the field?
2. Why is Lt. Jimmy Cross determined to find Kiowa’s body?
3. What tip does the platoon receive that the field is a bad place to set up camp?
4. How does Lt. Cross become a first lieutenant?
5. Why does Lt. Cross believe that Kiowa’s death is his fault?
6. What does Lt. Cross think about while he is searching the field?
7. Why does the boy believe Kiowa’s death is his fault?
8. What is the boy looking for in the field? Why is he looking so frantically?
9. Who finds Kiowa’s body?
10. Why do the men not want Lt. Cross to help them retrieve Kiowa’s body?
11. Whose is responsible for Kiowa’s death?
Chapter 18: Good Form
1. What does O’Brien mean by “story-truth is truer sometimes than happening truth”?
2. How does O’Brien differentiate between “happening-truth” and “story-truth”?
3. What is the truth in this book? Is this a work of fiction or non-fiction?
4. According to O’Brien, what function do stories serve?
Chapter 19: Field Trip
1. Why does O’Brien return to Vietnam?
2. Why does O’Brien return to the field?
3. What does O’Brien accuse the field of doing to him?
4. What does O’Brien do when he reaches the marshland along the river, and why?
5. After his mission is complete, how does O’Brien feel?
6. Describe the old farmer’s behavior. What occurs between him and O’Brien?
7. O’Brien admits in the previous chapter that, other than his age and profession, “almost everything else is invented.” Suppose
that his daughter, Kathleen, is also a fictional character. Why would he put her in his story?
Chapter 20: The Ghost Soldiers
1. Describe the author’s first wound.
2. How does Rat Kiley ease O’Brien’s anxiety about being shot?
3. Who is Bobby Jorgenson?
4. Describe the author’s second wound.
5. Where is O’Brien stationed after he is shot the second time?
6. Why does the author envy the guys from Alpha Company?
7. How does Morty Phillips die?
8. Why is O’Brien mad at Jorgenson?
9. What changes does O’Brien experience after seven months in the bush?
10. Describe the trick that Azar and O’Brien play on Jorgenson.
11. How does O’Brien feel while he is conducting the prank on Jorgenson?
12. Is the prank successful, or does it somehow backfire on O’Brien?
13. Do O’Brien and Jorgenson make peace?
Chapter 21: Night Life
1. What is the “night life?”
2. What does the “night life” do to the soldiers?
3. What happens to Rat Kiley?
4. Why does Rat Kiley shoot himself?
Chapter 22: The Lives of the Dead
1. Why do the men in the platoon shake the dead man’s hand?
2. Who is Linda?
3. Describe their date.
4. Why does the author include the story of Ted Lavender?
5. What is the name of the movie Timmy and Linda see on their date? What is the irony of this title?
6. What does Nick Veenhof do to Linda? Why is this incident shocking?
7. How does Linda react when her hat is removed in class?
8. What is wrong with Linda?
9. How does Timmy react to Linda’s death?
10. Why do the soldiers use phrases such as “crispy critter” and “roasted peanut” to describe the dead?
11. In a dream Timmy has about Linda, what does she say death is like?
12. Why does O’Brien include the story about Linda?