DISCUSSION QUESTIONS The Twelve Mile Straight |
1. The novel’s namesake, the Twelve-Mile Straight, is a road that
connects the Jesup family farm to the nearest town. From the initial
lynching of Genus Jackson, the road remains thematically important
throughout the whole novel. In what ways does the road act as a
character in its own right?
2. How does the relationship
between Elma and Nan change over time? How is their relationship
informed by the power imbalance between the two? In what ways is Elma
able to protect Nan and in what ways does she fail?
3. What is the historical impact of Prohibition and the Great Depression
on the Jesup family and the farm?
4. Which gender roles does Elma end up submitting to, and which are she
able to subvert?
5. The novel is narrated by an omniscient voice. How did it affect your
experience as a reader to hear the perspective of multiple characters,
even characters considered to be villains?
6. Nan has her tongue cut out at a young age, rendering her mute. How
does this state further entrench her status within the racial and
gendered power structure of the Jesup family? Is there any way in which
she is able to establish agency in spite of this?
7. What was the impact of having the paternity of both Nan and the twins
hidden to the reader for most of the novel? Were there hints established
early on that led you to the truth?
8. Who in the novel is truly innocent? Who is unequivocally evil? Among
the characters who are complicit in the structural injustice around
them, do any of them achieve redemption? Are there any heroes?
9. The novel deals with various forms of violence, almost all of which
is inflicted by men, both in physical abuse of other men, and sexual
abuse of women. Is there a stylistic difference in the way Henderson
writes about these two forms of violence?
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