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IN CLASS TODAY:
- Vocabulary Unit 4, words 10-15
- Student discussion of the question, "Is justice served in the novel?" Larger student goal of developing a question to address.
- Student participation noted on the board.
You are to prepare for tomorrow's impromptu:
1. Yours from today worded to lead more toward textual analysis and away from hypothesizing and opinion: Does Frank’s suicide serve justice to any degree?
Other questions you might consider. Those in bold are better suited to the exercise.
r Marie Little Soldier, Ronnie Tall Bear, Doris Looks Away, Ollie Young Bear and the Highdog Boys are the most described American Indians in the novel. What do each of them help us to understand better? Other characters? Larger relationships between communities? Explain what they help us to see, and how.
r Interpret the “vision” Davy had
r What motivates Frank Hayden's final act? (The author has characterized it as both a selfish and a selfless act.) Requires a careful reading-between-the-lines of Frank’s actions, words, etc.
r Late in the novel, Gail Hayden changes her attitude. She no longer wants her husband to continue the course of action that earlier she encouraged him to follow. What causes her to change?
r What does Wesley Hayden mean by his admonishment not to "blame Montana"?
r A great deal of attention is paid to locating Bentrock (a fictional community) on the map. What role does the setting play in the novel?
r Whose story is this? Wesley's? David's?
r Who is the moral center of the story?
r How does prejudice play into the story?
r Why is Wesley Hayden especially concerned when his son David tells him that Len McAuley might "know something"? What does this reveal about Wes and his priorities?
r What would the outcome of the story have been had David's father publicly arrested Frank? Would things have turned out better? Worse? Would you have done the same thing as Wesley had it been your family?
r Was there any justice for the crimes committed by Frank?
r In what ways is the novel about privilege and the abuse of power?
r What is the effect of David Hayden telling this story so many years after the fact?
r Why does David say that he feels better after killing the Magpie?
r Len McAuley says to David that he wanted to tell Julian Hayden “…don’t let those boys [Wes and Frank when they were younger] run wild. Just because we’re out here, a thousand miles from nowhere, you think it doesn’t matter. Out here, nothing but rimrock and sagebrush. You think no one’s going to care. But those boys have to live in the world. Rein ‘em in a little. Don’t break them, but pull ‘em back. But I didn’t. Never said a word. Now look at them… A lawyer and a doctor. College and the whole kit. Sheriff and a doctor… Your granddad could tell me a thing or two…” (93-94). Though their status is great, both Wes and Frank have significant character defects. Could those have been avoided if Julian had “reigned them in” when they were growing up?
r Why can’t David figure out how town life works? Assuming that the frontier-like, hard lifestyle of Bentrock matters in this consideration, in what way is Montana so central to the themes of this book?
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