DISCUSSION QUESTIONS The Lincoln Highway |
1.
How do you think
Emmett, Duchess, Woolly, and Sally’s various upbringings—particularly
their relationships to their parents—have shaped them? How have their
parents’ choices influenced their own desires and ambitions? When you
were eighteen, which aspects of your parents’ lives did you hope to
emulate, and which did you hope to cast aside?
2.
Early in the novel,
Emmett meets Sister Agnes, a nun who describes the faith of children,
who look upon a miracle “with awe and wonder, yes, but without
disbelief.” From the context, it’s fairly clear that Sister Agnes is
referencing Billy in her remark. How would you describe Billy’s
personality? While he is the youngest and least experienced character in
the novel, one could argue that he has the greatest influence on other
characters. What is it about Billy that makes this so?
3.
Throughout the
novel, an array of stories are recalled—stories drawn from Professor
Abernathe’s Compendium, from the Vaudevillian world of Duchess’s
father, from Shakespeare, cinema, and the Bible. What role do stories
play in the shaping of the different characters’ lives and
personalities? Are these stories a productive or counterproductive
force? What story—whether handed down to you from your parents or
experienced in a novel or film—had a particularly strong influence on
shaping you as a young person?
4.
The novel takes
places in the mid-1950s—a period of peace, prosperity, and upward
mobility in the US; a period in which television was in its infancy, and
which came just before the advents of rock & roll, the modern civil
rights movement, and the “sexual revolution”. How does the era shape the
journeys of the characters, if at all? What aspect of their journeys are
unique to their times, and what aspects were shared by you when you were
on the verge of adulthood?
5.
Hilary—and old
friend and member of my book group—observed to me in passing, Well,
of course, money is one of the central themes of your book. It’s on the
minds of all the characters. This hadn’t occurred to me for
one second! Do you think Hilary is right? On a related note, discuss the
broader themes in the novel of moral accounting: of debt and recompense,
transgression and atonement, sin and redemption.
6.
The City of New York
is a thousand cities rolled into one. How does New York differ in the
eyes of Emmett, Duchess, Woolly, and Billy?
7.
One of the pleasures
of writing fiction is discovering upon completion of a project that some
thread of imagery has run through the work without your complete
awareness–forming, in essence, an unintentional motif. While I was very
conscious of the recurrence of Maps & Floorplans in the book,
and Photographs, here are a few motifs that I only recognized
after the fact: Timepieces such as Billy’s surplus watch, the two
grandfather clocks, Marceline’s pocket watch, and Wallace’s officer’s
watch; Tables, Desks, & Chairs such as the furniture in the doll
case at FAO Schwarz, the long table in the dining room at the camp, and
the desks of “Dennis” and Professor Abernathe; Cases such as the
wicker picnic basket, Woolly’s cigar box, Harry Hewett’s Othello case,
and the shoebox of preserves. What role do any of these motifs play in
the thematic composition of the book? And if you see me in an airport,
can you explain them to me?
8.
The tone of each
character’s chapters differs from the tone of the other characters’
chapters. How would you describe the style of the different characters’
chapters? To what degree does the style shape your sense of the
characters’ personalities? How does reading Duchess’s first person
narrative influence you in comparison to Emmett’s third person
narrative?
9.
Emmett’s father
leaves Emmett a quotation from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay
“Self-Reliance” as part of his legacy. Do you agree with Emerson’s
argument that what is within the individual is new to nature, and that
we have no idea of what we can achieve until we’ve tried? What about
Emerson’s idea strikes you as particularly American? What about this
novel strikes you as particularly American? What does self-reliance mean
to Emmett, to Duchess, and to Sally?
10.
There are a number
of smaller legacies in the novel. In addition to the Emerson quotation
left to Emmett, there are the recipes handed down to Sally, the
officer’s watch handed down in the Wolcott family, the St. Christopher
medal passed from Billy to Ulysses. What role do these small legacies
play within the larger themes of the novel? What smaller legacy have you
received that has meant a great deal to you?
11.
How would you
describe each main character’s transformation over the course of the
novel? Which character do you think evolves most significantly? Which
characters, in your opinion, found what they were looking for? Do you
have a favorite character, and why them?
12.
A question for those
of you who have read my other books: While Rules of Civility covers
a year in Katey’s life, and A Gentleman in Moscow spans three
decades, The Lincoln Highway takes place over just ten days. How
does the span of time effect the narrative and your experience of it?
What are the benefits and limitations that come with reading a novel
spanning days rather than years? While A Gentleman in Moscow and The
Lincoln Highway differ in duration, the ending of the two books
match each other in a very specific way. What is this
commonality? And what are its implications when considering the two
stories side by side?
13.
Woolly’s sister,
Sarah, observes to Emmett: “If you take a trait that by all appearances
is a merit—a trait that is praised by pastors and poets, a trait that we
have come to admire in our friends and hope to foster in our
children—and you give it to some poor soul in abundance, it will almost
certainly prove an obstacle to their happiness.” Do you think this is
true? What virtue do you think each of the main characters possesses in
excess?
14.
Given inflation,
$50,000 in 1954 would be the equivalent of about $500,000 today. Late in
your discussion, after you’ve had the chance to share a bottle of wine
or a few cocktails, tell each other what you would do if you were
suddenly given half a million dollars. |
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