DISCUSSION QUESTIONS Memphis |
1.
Joan’s sections are told in first person, while the other North women
are written in third person. How did this change in perspective affect
your reading experience? Did it make you identify more strongly with any
of the characters?
2.
Discuss the different generations of
North women — and North men — and some of the defining characteristics
of each person. Which traits were passed down through the family line?
Which traits seem to belong to individuals?
3.
Why do you think Miriam brought Joan
and Mya to live with August and Derek, despite knowing what happened to
Joan years before? Do you think she made the right choice? Why or why
not?
4.
“Wars fascinated me,” Joan says. “How
on earth could a sane man charge into a volley of bullets—say, at D-Day?
Weren’t they terrified?” She later compares these feelings to her own
experience walking into August’s house knowing Derek lived there, too.
What do you make of this comparison? Do you believe personal traumas can
be as damaging as war?
5.
How do Myron and Hazel’s lives — and
deaths — reverberate through the future generations of their family?
6.
Memphis is full of cultural
references, from historical events and figures to well-known music and
literature. How did these details influence your reading experience?
Which reference was your favorite?
7.
“History had awakened me to the fact
that racism is the only food Americans crave,” Stringfellow writes.
Discuss this quote. What do you think she means by this? Do you agree?
Why or why not?
8.
How do the people of Douglass support
each other throughout the years? What do you think Memphis is saying
about the value of community? Does this community support ever fall
short? If so, where?
9.
“I wasn’t sure if my burying that
comb was what landed my cousin in prison,” Joan says, “but I thanked God
— and Miss Dawn — for the magic of it.” Do you believe the magic worked?
Either way, do you feel Joan got justice for what happened to her when
Derek went to prison? Why or why not?
10.
Joan’s relationship with her father
remains complicated throughout the novel. “I did not forgive him for
abandoning us,” she says. “That is too big a thing to forgive. But
driving in the Shelby through the streets of North Memphis with Daddy, I
couldn’t deny how lovely it felt to have one.” Do you think it’s
possible for a relationship to move forward without forgiveness? Why or
why not?
11.
One of the themes of the novel is
encapsulated in this quotation: “The things women do for the sake of
their daughters. The things women don’t.” How do these lines describe
the behaviors of the North women?
12.
August once says to Joan, “Free? A
Black woman hasn’t ever known the meaning of that word, my love.” By the
end of the novel, Joan says, contrary to what August told her, that she
does feel free. What gives her this freedom? What kind of life do you
imagine for Joan and Mya’s own daughters, if they choose to have them? |
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