Month: May 2010
Genre: Historical Fiction Literature:
Book of the Month: Wench
Author: Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Question source: http://www.harpercollins.com/
Discussion Questions:
1. Lizzie is a house slave. How does this position differ from working in the fields? How does this status affect her day-to-day existence? What impact does it have for her children? 2. Unlike many slaves, Lizzie learned to read. Why did Drayle teach her? What does this ability offer her? Does her ability influence the other slaves she lived with?
3. When Mawu asks Lizzie about Drayle, Lizzie hears the question, "Is he good to you?" Later she comes to understand that Mawu wanted to know, "Is he God to you?" How would you answer both questions? How do these questions relate to one another in the context of Lizzie's life?
4. Lizzie claims that she loves Drayle. Does she? Does he love her? How would you describe their bond? Can love truly exist when there is such an imbalance of power between two people? What about Drayle and his wife, Fran? Talk about their marriage and compare it to the relationship between Lizzie and Drayle.
5. How would you describe Drayle? What kind of a slave owner is he? What does Lizzie mean to Drayle? How does he treat her? How does he treat their children? Lizzie begs Drayle to free their son and daughter. Why won't he?
6. Describe the relationship between Drayle's wife, Fran, and Lizzie. How do the women view each other? How are their positions similar?
7. When Drayle receives an offer to sell Phillip he refuses. Why? What eventually makes him change his mind? What does Lizzie think about Phillip's chance at freedom? Why does she refuse to help him when she is first asked—and what changes her mind?
8. Compare and contrast the four women at the heart of the novel: Lizzie, Mawu, Sweet, and Reenie. Though they are all slaves, are their experiences the same? What accounts for any differences?
9. How did Lizzie feel about going to Tawawa? What did the resort offer her that her life in Tennessee did not? How do her experiences at the resort change her over the course of the summers she is there?
10. What was Lizzie's opinion of Mawu when she first met her? Describe the arc of their relationship. What events changed they way they saw each other?
11. Describe the women's white masters. What are their relationships like with their slaves? Do these relationships offer any benefits to the women? Are these women entirely powerless? If not, what power do they have?
12. Why does Lizzie tell Drayle about Mawu's plan to escape? Is she surprised by Mawu's punishment? Why doesn't Mawu hate Lizzie for what she did? When Mawu finally escapes, she stays behind, waiting for Lizzie? Why does she risk herself for Lizzie? What do they all see in Lizzie—why is she special?
13. Tawawa was very near to where free colored folk also vacationed, a place called Lewis House. What do the slaves think of Lewis House? Why didn't more slaves try to escape when freedom was so near? Why do you think the Northern whites who also summered at Tawawa didn't help them find freedom?
14. What role does the white woman, Glory, play in the novel? When they first meet her, they are startled by her behavior. "These slaves had been around Northern whites long enough to recognize one who didn't understand the rules." Why doesn't Glory seem to "understand the rules?" How does meeting her influence the slaves, especially Lizzie?
15. Many events happen during Lizzie's visits to Ohio, from the discovery of the abolitionist pamphlet to the trip to Dayton to meeting Glory and Phillip's fiancé. Talk about the significance of each and explain how they shaped Lizzie's outlook about her life and herself. How does she change by the novel's end? What about the other characters?
16. What does freedom mean to you? What does it mean to Lizzie and the other slaves?
17. Lizzie lived a life defined by indignity and degradation. How did she cope and overcome her pain?
18. After Sweet learns that all of her children have died from cholera, she tells her friends that she wants to die. Is death better than a life in chains?
19. Discuss the evils of slavery. How does it degrade the soul of both the enslaved and their masters?
20. Unlike the characters in the story, you, the reader, know that the Civil War will occur in less than a decade. How does the knowledge shape your experience reading the story? Does it give you hope for Lizzie and her children?
21. What did you learn from reading Wench? What affected you most about the story?
1 comment:
1. Lizzie's position as a house slave differs from working in the fields because she is not required to do as much strenuous outdoor work involving the land and animal stock as expected of the field slaves. As a sheltered house slaves she is expected to clean and by all means cater to the needs of the 'Master and Mrs.’ residing in the home.
2. Drayle teaches Lizzie how to read in exchange for Lizzie to commit sexual acts with him with intentions of her bearing his first child. As a slave being capable of reading is revered as a gift, unique, special. She used this ability to read and enlighten the other slaves that could not read.
3. If I were Lizzie, and I consider Drayle as someone I loved blindly regardless of the circumstance compared to others, I would say yes he is good to me. However, if asked if he is god to me, I would say no. These terms are used interchangeably in context: good and god. They relate to another because when one thinks of god he/she will assume such as superior capable of being and granting good things to believers. “God is good”
Although Mawu ask is he good but really means is he god to you, she is really asking Lizzie to think about her position towards another superior human and decide whether this flesh and blood male is worth sacrificing the rest of her life for, stop believing in his promises and pass up the opportunity to free herself from him.
4. Lizzie loves Drayle. In a twisted way they are like a married couple with a family. But like most relationships love tends to be revealed in different circumstances. Although Lizzie does not outright say, I love him; it however was evident through her actions and loyalty. She willingly accepted his gifts, she willingly worried about him, she proudly claimed him as the father her children, she willingly recognized him as her Drayle, she thought of killing him but couldn’t, she missed him when she wasn’t able to be with him, and although she decided to not escape because she had children back home, deep down she had no reason to leave someone who openly loved her, gave her almost anything and fathered her children. Back in slavery times males had most of the power over women…period. So accepting this fact was a custom rather than an insult of inferiority. This was evident even between the relationships of Drayle’s wife Fran. Fran had no say over her husband flaunting his mistress in her presence. Drayle and Fran were simply roommates. Drayle was more of a husband to his mistress, Lizzie rather than to Fran.
5. Unlike many slave holders, Drayle is fair and liberal. He favors Lizzie, because at such a young age she is attractive, accepting and naïve. Drayle refrains from freeing the children because he sees no need in doing so. He does this because he doubts the children’s and Lizzie’s loyalty and love for him. He is afraid of being alone, having no one, and not being able to claim a successor of his bloodline, so he holds on to the only power he has over her and their children: ownership. He not only seems them as his lover and offspring but also a property. Such insecurity reveals he is not only fair and liberal but also selfish.
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