Reading Guide: Discussion Questions |
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1. Discuss Ruth McBride's (the author's mother) refusal to reveal her past. How did that influence her children's sense of themselves and their place in the world? How has what you know, and don't know, about your family background shaped your self-image?
2. Their mother insisted that the McBride children keep family business private and she was suspicious of authority figures. "If anyone asked us about our home life, we were taught to respond with, 'I don't know,' and for years I did just that. Mommy's house was an entire world that she created.” (p.27) Why do you think she demanded these behaviors from her children?
3. For someone with such an unhappy childhood and such troubling family experiences, how do you explain Ruth's commitment to the mothering of such a large family?
4. Ruth was a strong-willed and extraordinary mother whose “children's achievements are her life's work.” (p.275) Was she a loving mother? Were kindness and tenderness part of her mothering? Do you think of her as heroic or flawed?
5. James feared for his mother's safety, yet he was embarrassed by her appearance and personality as she went about her business in the neighborhood. What contributed to his mix of feelings?
6. In talking about poverty when she was growing up, Ruth says, “Back then it was a different kind of poor… you didn't need money as much.” (p.82) Do you agree?
7. “It was in her sense of education, more than any other, that Mommy conveyed her Jewishness to us.” Do you agree with this statement? Is it possible that Ruth McBride Jordan's unshakable devotion to her faith, even though she converted to Christianity from Judaism, stems from her Orthodox Jewish upbringing?
8. James nearly stopped going to school and took up risky activities shortly after his stepfather died. What else may have contributed to his rebellion and what brought him back?
9. The young James once asked his mother what a “tragic mulatto” was. Ruth tells her adult son “Me and Dennis caused a riot on 105th Street once… ” (p.232) with their mere presence as a couple. How has American society's attitude toward people of mixed heritage changed in McBride children's lifetime? Have feelings about interracial couples become less extreme in the past generation or so. (Tell us why you think so, or not.)
10. The author creates a dual narrative by alternating chapters between his words and his mother's. Which voice did you identify with most?
11. How did this structure affect your reading experience?
12. The McBride children's struggle with their identities led each to his or her own "revolution.” Is it also possible that that same struggle led them to define themselves through professional achievement?
13. All of Ruth's children seem to run from their mother? Why? What was more of a factor, her race or her personality?
14. Several of the McBride children became involved in the civil rights movement. Do you think that this was a result of the times in which they lived, their need to belong to a group that lent them a solid identity, or a combination of these factors?
15. “Our house was a combination three-ring circus and zoo, complete with ongoing action, daring feats, music, and animals.” Does Helen leave to escape her chaotic homelife or to escape the mother whose very appearance confuses her about who she is?
16. “Mommy's contradictions crashed and slammed against one another like bumper cars at Coney Island. White folks, she felt, were implicitly evil toward blacks, yet she forced us to go to white schools to get the best education. Blacks could be trusted more, but anything involving blacks was probably substandard… She was against welfare and never applied for it despite our need, but championed those who availed themselves of it.” Do you think these contradictions served to confuse Ruth's children further, or did they somehow contribute to the balanced view of humanity that James McBride possesses?
17. While reading the descriptions of the children's hunger, did you wonder why Ruth did not seek out some kind of assistance?
18. Ruth's stern upbringing seems to have quite an impact on the way she disciplines her children. Should she have shared more of her background with her children? Would it have affected their respect for her and her rules?
19. Ruth's family disowned her for being in love with a black man. Did it surprise you to find such intolerance between one minority group and another? What circumstances might push the limits of tolerance if it involved you own children?
20. How have our society's attitudes toward people of mixed heritage changed over generations?
21. How did James McBride change after discovering more about his mother's background? Have you ever discovered something in your own family history that changed the way you look at yourself?
22. While reading the book, were you curious about how Ruth McBride Jordan's remarkable faith had translated into the adult lives of her children? Do you think that faith is something that can be passed on from one generation to the next, or do you think that faith that is instilled too strongly in children eventually causes them to turn away from it?
23. Do you think it would be possible to achieve what Ruth McBride has achieved in today's society?
"Complex and moving ... suffused with issues of race, religion and identity. Yet those issues, so much a part of their lives and stories, are not central. The triumph of the book—and of their lives—is that race and religion are transcended in these interwoven histories by family love, the sheer force of a mother's will and her unshakable insistence that only two things really mattered: school and church ... The two stories, son's and mother's, beautifully juxtaposed, strike a graceful note at a time of racial polarization."
— The New York Times Book Review
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