September 2015 Book Selection
The
Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group will meet Thursday, September 10th at 7
p.m. to discuss our September book Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward.
Discussion
questions, author bio and interview and book reviews are attached.
Here
are some links for additional background and information:
Before
and after photos of Hurricane Katrina
DeLisle, Mississippi
– author’s hometown and basis for fictional Bois Sauvage
The
story of Jason and
Medea
Coming
up, we have the following books to look forward to reading:
Thurs.
Oct. 8 Someone
by Alice McDermott
Thurs.
Nov. 12 Consequences
by Penelope Lively
Thurs.
Dec 10 Outline
by Rachel Cusk
Thanks
for reading with us. I look forward to seeing you at the Fairfax Library.
Beth Bailey-Gates
Friends
of the Fairfax Library
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
1. Salvage the Bones opens with China giving birth to a litter of puppies in the shed. What
do we learn about Esch and the rest of the Batiste family during this scene?
How does each of Esch's brothers react to the puppies' birth? What will Esch
learn about motherhood from watching China with her puppies?
2.
Esch's
summer reading assignment, Mythology by Edith Hamilton, includes the story of the tragic romance between
Jason and Medea. How does the myth of Jason and Medea relate to Esch's
relationship with Manny? In the end, does Esch betray her family for love, as
Medea does?
3. Chart
Esch's attitude toward her pregnancy through the 12 days of the novel. How does
Esch first realize that she might be pregnant, and how does she react when her
suspicion is confirmed? When do we see Esch in stages of denial, fear and
acceptance? How do Skeetah and Daddy respond when they discover Esch's
pregnancy?
4. Discuss
the nature of Skeetah's bond with his pit bull, China. Why is Skeetah so
committed to China and her puppies? How does Skeetah negotiate his
responsibilities to his family and to his dog?
5. How does
Daddy seem to know that a storm is coming before anyone else does? How do his
children and neighbors react to his early preparations? Why do Daddy's
precautions fail in the face of Katrina's destruction?
6. Esch
wonders "if Daddy will feel his missing fingers the way we feel Mama,
present in the absence" (247). Discuss the presence of Mama in the novel,
even though she has been dead for seven years. How does Mama live on in her
children's memory?
7. The fifth
chapter has the same title as the novel, "Salvage the Bones." Review
the chapter and discuss what the title means. How does the title fit the
chapter as well as the novel as a whole?
8. Discuss
the depiction of violence in Salvage the Bones. What do scenes of violence— including Daddy's loss of his fingers,
China's brutal killing of her puppy and the dogfight between China and Kilo—add
to the novel? How do violence and tenderness coexist in this troubled setting?
9. Consider
how Manny betrays Esch and her brothers. How does Manny treat Esch before and
after he learns of her pregnancy? Why does Manny turn on Skeetah and China and
support Rico and Kilo in the dogfight?
10. Randall
tells Skeetah, "You just like Daddy. Always crazy for something"
(157). Discuss the similarities and differences between Skeetah and Daddy. How
do the similarities between father and son create conflict between them?
11. Discuss
the setting of Salvage the Bones. How does the Pit—the lot where the Batiste family has lived for
generations—look and feel? What is it like to grow up in the town of Bois
Sauvage? What are race relations like in this rural Mississippi area?
12. Review the
scenes of the hurricane, in which Esch, her brothers and Daddy scramble from
their attic to their roof and then to Mother Lizbeth and Papa Joseph's house to
escape the rising water. How do these family members help one another survive
these treacherous conditions? Why does Daddy throw Esch into the water, and how
does he later express regret?
13.
Skeetah lets go of China in order to save Esch
from drowning in the storm. Does Skeetah seem to regret his choice of sister
over dog? What is the mood at the end of the novel as Skeetah waits by the
house for China to return to him?
14. Big Henry
tells Esch, "This baby got plenty of daddies" (255). Name the
"daddies" who will help Esch raise her child. What assistance does
each of these boys and men have to offer?
15. Compare
the portrayal of Katrina in Salvage the Bones with what you saw of the hurricane in the news. Which aspects of the
storm's devastation does this novel bring to life? What does Esch's perspective
add to your understanding of Katrina's impact?
16. The story in Salvage
the Bones is told by Esch Batiste, who has
just finished tenth grade. Was Esch’s teenaged voice believable? Why or why
not?
17. What is the theme of Salvage the Bones or
the main thing Ward is trying to say in the novel?
18. Other
books about Hurricane Katrina have dealt with broad social or political issues,
such as the treatment of evacuees by federal agencies. Ward focuses on one
family, the Batistes: Esch and her father, Claude, and her brothers Randall,
Skeetah and Junior. How would you describe the Batistes? How does Hurricane
Katrina change the family? What do we learn from its story?
19. Sam Sacks of the Wall
Street Journal said that the bond between
Esch’s brother Skeetah and his dog, China, is “the strongest and
most affecting in the book.” Do you agree? Why does Skeetah
allows China allow to enter the dog fight described in the chapter called “The
Eighth Day” if he loves her so much? [pages 153–176]
20. What race did you assume Manny (the father of
Esch’s baby) to be? Many critics seemed to assume that he was black. But Ward
says that Manny had a “red sunburn” [page 16]. Black skin can burn, but it
doesn’t turn red in the same way that white skin does. Would it make a
difference if a black teenager in the Deep South had been impregnated by a
white or Latino boy?
21. How would you describe Ward’s writing style? How
well did it suit the subject of her book? [Background: Some critics have called that
style “poetic.”Ward seemed to agree when she told the Paris
Review: “I’m a failed poet. Reading
poetry helps me to see the world differently, and I try to infuse my prose with
figurative language, which goes against the trend in fiction.” But Salvage
the Bones also has journalistic aspects –
for example, when Ward describes the onslaught of Katrina by quoting weather
reports.]
22. Salvage the Bones links Esch’s story to that of Medea,
who murdered her children to avenge her betrayal by her husband, and to other
figures from Greek mythology. How effective was this literary technique? Were
you persuaded, for example, by Esch’s comment that she slept with boys “because
for a moment, I was Psyche or Eurydice or Daphne”? [p. 16]
23. Ward explained the Medea analogies by saying in a Paris
Review interview:
“Medea is in China most directly. China is brutal and magical and loyal. Medea
is in Hurricane Katrina because her power to unmake worlds, to manipulate the
elements, closely aligns with the storm. And she’s in Esch, too, because Esch
understands her vulnerability, Medea’s tender heart, and responds to it.” Can
you give examples of how China is “brutal” as Medea and Esch is “tender”?
24. Have you lived through a hurricane or other
natural disaster? If so, how did you react to the portrayal of Hurricane
Katrina? What seemed most and least believable?
25. What does the title Salvage
the Bones mean? Esch suggests more than one
answer when she says of Katrina, “She left us to salvage.” [page 255] What is
being “salvaged”?
