Book Club

QUESTIONS

1. What was your first impression of Grey Fox and how did your opinion of him change as you read? How much do you think 21st-century expectations impacted your opinion of Grey Fox as a character?
2. What similarities exist between the lifestyle of an “average” American child and between Talks Like Thunder?
3. How might Talks Like Thunder’s journey through this novel have been different if she had not been trained as a warrior?
4. Which is more important to Talk Like Thunder and to Falling Star, traditions or people?
5. Which relationship in this novel was the most transformative for Talks Like Thunder?
6. How does the guilt and shame Talks Like Thunder experiences, after her rape in part 2, compare to the feelings contemporary rape victims feel? How much of her reaction do you think was influenced by her culture and how much was influenced by human psychology?
7. In chapter 36, the author humanizes the white soldiers. Does this treatment of the soldier characters make you more empathetic towards the white people in the novel? Why or why not?
8. The treatment of buffalo is mentioned multiple times in chapter 53 and through the end of the text. How does this treatment mimic the way white people treated Native Americans?
9. Look at the character of Brother in part 3. How is Brother’s journey influenced by the idea of hope?
10. When should cultural and religious traditions die and/or be adapted?