Group+Five

Book Group Template DATE: GROUP #: MEMBERS: Chris Jordan, Haley Insley, Marcella Bruno, Alison Schubert

For your reading of Montana 1948, book groups will meet four times to discuss the novel and address each aspect listed below. Take notes on your wiki for each of your meetings and save it to your group’s Wiki, noting the date and members names at the top.

This is the reading/book discussion schedule. Be sure you have completed each part prior to the book discussion day.

1) Part One, Friday, March 19th 2) Part Two, Tuesday, March 23rd 3) Part Three, Thursday, March 25th 4) Afterward/Epilogue, Friday, March 26th

Directions: Write your notes for every category below on your group’s wiki space. Be sure to discuss in your groups:


 * __PART ONE__**

• **Imagery/ Symbolism** “ She was close to six feet tall and though she wasn't exactly fat she had a fleshy amplitude about her that made her seem simultaneously soft and strong, as if all that body could be ready, at a moment's notice.... She had a wide pretty face and cheekbones so high, full, and glossy I often wondered if they were naturally like that or if they were puffy and swollen. Her hair was black and long and straight, and she was always pulling strands of it from the corner of her mouth or parting it to clear her vision.” (Watson, pg. 25) – This passage lets you picture exactly what Maria looks like.

"On the western edge of the county and extending into two other counties was the Fort Warren Indian Reservation, the rockiest, sandiest, least arable parcel of land in the region. In 1948 its roads were unpaved, and many of its shacks looked as though they would barely hold back a breeze." (Watson, pg. 15) - This symbolizes that the town is not that stable. There are a lot of Indians living there and that it is a bad area of Montana. People look down on the Indians.

"He didnt call for silence. That wasn't his way. He simply stood there, his feet planted wide, his hands on his hips. He was wearing his long black buckskin jacket, the one so tanned and aged that it was almost white. He assumed that once people saw him, they would give him their attention. And they did."(Watson pg. 37) - This shows you a picture that all these people look up to this Uncle that is coming home from war.

• Character Behavior or Psychology: For Part one you must focus on characterization of the main characters listed below. 1. What the character says 2. What the character does 3. What others/narrator says about the character** You must use textual evidence for each of these three elements of characterization
 * For each character, discuss all three modes of characterization:

__What the Other Characters says:__ David tells us in the beginning that his father ends up dying of cancer. David, the narrator, says that his father is racist. “An aunt gave me a pair of moccasins for my birthday, and my father forbade me to wear the. When I made a fuss and my mother sides with me, my father said, ‘He wears those and soon he’ll be as flat-footed and lazy as an Indian.’” (Watson, pg. 34)
 * Narrator’s Father**

__What the Character says:__ “She didn’t say why. My guess is she’s never been to anyone but the tribal medicine man.” (Watson, pg. 35) This also proves that the father is racist and he acts a little sarcastic too.

__What the Character does:__ “My mother and father came home together at five o’clock. If the evening followed its usual pattern, my father would read the Mercer County Gazette, have super, and go out again for an hour or two if the evening was peaceful. He would be gone longer if it was not. “ (Watson, pg. 33) This is what he would do after he came home from work every day.

**this is done very well.**

Narrator’s mother (Gail)- You see that she is caring because she is very concerned when she finds out Marie is sick. She is quiet around her husband and agrees with what the says. The narrator says that she is hard working and kind. Marie and Ronnie Tall Bear **Why is this not complete?** Uncle Frank (and Aunt Gloria) **Why is this not complete?** Grandfather **Why is this not complete?**

• Interesting Passages (at least two passages, cited in proper MLA format) MARIE 1. “Marie was neither small nor shy. She loved to laugh and talk, and she was a great tease, specializing in outrageous lies about everything from strange animal behavior to bloody murders. Then, as soon as she saw she had you gulled, she would say, “Not so, not so!” She was close to six feet tall and though she wasn’t exactly fat she had a fleshy amplitude about her that made her seem simultaneously soft and strong, as if all that body could be ready, at a moment’s notice, for sex or work. The cotton print dresses she wore must have been handed down or up to her because they never fit her quite right; they were either too short and tight and she looked about to pop out of them, or they were much too large and she threatened to fall free or be tangled in all that loose fabric. She a wide, pretty face and cheekbones so high, full, and glossy I often wondered if they were naturally like that or if they were puffy and swollen. Her hair was black and long and straight, and she was always pulling strands of it from the corner of her mouth or parting it to clear her vision. (Watson 25)

This passage is important because it gives readers a great description of David’s housekeeper, Marie.

2. “And I loved her. Because she talked to me, cared for me…Because she was older but not too old…Because she was not as quiet and conventional as every other adult I knew…Because she was sexy, though my love for her was, as a twelve-year-old’s love often is, chaste.” (Watson 26)

This passage is important because it tells readers how David feels about Marie.

RONNIE TALL BEAR 1. “Besides, Marie had a boyfriend, Ronnie Tall Bear, who worked on a ranch north of town. I was not jealous of Ronnie, because I liked him almost as much as I liked Marie. Liked Ronnie? I worshipped him.” (Watson 26)

This passage is important because it tells readers how David feels about Marie’s boyfriend, Ronnie Tall Bear.

2. “He had graduated from Bentrock High School a few years earlier, and he was one of the finest athletes the region had ever produced. He was the Mustangs’ star fullback, the high-scoring forward in basketball; in track he set school records in the discus, javelin, and 440-yeard dash. He pitched and played outfield on the American Legion baseball team. (I realize now how much I was part of that era’s thinking: I never wondered then, as I do now, why a college didn’t snap up an athlete like Ronnie. Then, I knew without being told, as if it were knowledge that I drank in with the water, that college was not for Indians.) During the war Ronnie was in the infantry (good enough for the Army but not for college). Marie told me he was thinking of trying his hand on the rodeo circuit.” (Watson 26)

This passage gives readers some information about Ronnie Tall Bear’s past and current life.

• Questions/ Predictions you have: I think that there will be a lot more happening with Marie's situation with uncle Frank. I also think that the narrator will become more mature. Why is the narrators father so against indians? Why does everyone think Uncle Franks is a great man when he's really not?

• Connections to modern life or your personal life
 * My grandpa was a police officer in River Vale and most of the people knew him in town. Then my two uncles, the oldest of 6 kids, became police officers. I don’t know if it was because my grandpa wanted them to do it, but they continued his tradition. They did what they were interested in and most people knew them in town that has lived there for a long time or all their lives. This is similar to the narrator's grandfather who wants his father to continue being sheriff of the town and wants the power of their family to stay.

**Nice job here folks, just be sure that in future postings ALL elements are completed. What was done here was done quite well so keep up the good work. Also be sure to properly cite things in MLA (author page number). 17/20.

__PART TWO__

**
 * Imagery/Symbolism**

“The house was huge – two stories, five bedrooms, a dining room bigger than some restaurants, a stone fireplace that two children could stand in. The ceilings were high and open-beamed. The interior walls were log as well. And the furnishings were equally rough-hewn and massive. Leather couches and armchairs. Trestle tables. Bass lamps. Sheepskin rugs on floors and Indian blankets on rugs the floors and Indian blankets on the walls. Hanging in my grandfather’s den were two gun cases, racks of antlers from deer, elk, bighorn sheep, and antelope, and a six foot rattlesnake skin.” (Watson 68) – This part of the book describes David’s Grandfather’s house.

"We stood in the middle of the yard while a gusty wind that lowered the temperature twenty degrees in less than an house whipped my mother's hair in front of her face and wrapped her skirt tight against her legs. A cool front was moving through-sure to ruin the fishing, the local fishermen would say” (Watson 63) - The weather symbolizes how Frank is affecting Marie and lots of other Indian women.

"As I had so often been advised by my parents, I never believed any of my grandmother's supernatural stories. Until the day Marie died. That night I lay in bed and couldn't breathe. The room felt close, full, as though someone else was getting the oxygen I needed." (Watson 95) - He is so upset about Marie's death that this paragraph symbolizes that he can feel her death.

David talks about how when Marie died he felt as though death was still in the house. When someone dies in the house, like a close family member, they still feel their presence in the house. It’s not a horrible feeling, but more like a feeling that someone else is in the house in a spiritual way, yet you can see him or her. Death is a strange concept to many people. People deal with it differently and others feel as though they can’t let go of things. David was never extremely close to Marie, but he felt her presence and that’s how some people feel. “The room felt close, full, as though someone else was getting all the oxygen I needed” (Watson, 95). After Marie died, David knew something that no else knew. David thought he saw Uncle Frank leaving the house that day and then afterwards everyone found Marie dead. David was able to admit to this mother and father about what happened that day. Most kids feel scared to tell someone something that might change things. If it could get someone in trouble, then you feel as though your tattling on someone. It took David awhile to get the courage to tell his father and mother, but he knew it was for the better to tell him.
 * **Connections to modern life or our personal life**


 * • Interesting Passages (at least two passages, cited in proper MLA format)**

“I loved Aunt Gloria-she was sweet and beautiful and good to me-yet the day I couldn’t bear to look at her. How could she act normal, I wondered, when she was married to Uncle Frank? How could she not know?...While my parents were gone, I came down with a case of tonsillitis, as I frequently did as a child. Uncle Frank gave me a shot of penicillin, and Aunt Gloria took better care of me than my own mother. She made me chicken soup and Jell-O, she brought me comic books and ginger ale and she never let more than an hour pass without checking on me.” (Watson 77)

This passage gives readers a great understanding on how David feels about his aunt and how strong their relationship is.

“Those were the last words Marie spoke to me. The next day, Monday, August 13, 1948, Marie Little Soldier was dead. My mother came home from work at 5:15 and found Marie lying dead in her bed. By the time I came home at 6:00 (I had spent the day fishing with Charley and Ben), the hearse-a Buick station wagon from Undest’s Funeral Parlor-was backing out of our driveway and carrying Marie’s body away. Uncles Frank’s pickup was parked in front of the house. On the courthouse lawn across the street stood a few onlookers, and Mr. and Mrs. Grindahl next door were on their porch, staring at our house as if it might burst into flames at any second. From somewhere on the block came the steady ratcheta-ratcheta of a lawn mower-someone who didn’t know that for the moment all usual activity had ceased.” (Watson 86-87)

This passage creates suspense in the novel because no one knows how Marie passed away. David does know that his Uncle Frank left when everyone found out she was dead.

How was David positive that Frank killed Marie and he wasn't just checking on the patient like his dad was suggesting? What will David's father think of his brother now that David gave him the idea that he killed Marie?
 * Questions/Predictions

We think that now that Marie passed away David's life will change in many different ways. One way might be that he may be neglected now because he now has no one to watch him when his parents aren't home and that they will spend most of their time trying to figure out if Frank killed Marie. He might also become very upset and depressed because he loved Marie and really liked her.

We also think that everyones opinions about Frank will change. Once everyone in town knows their opinions will change but we also think that his family's opinion on him will change. We think that David will no longer think of him as good person and that Frank's and Wesley's father will now be more proud of Wesley. He used to be more proud of Frank because he was very successful but now i tihnk he will change his opinion and be more proud of his other son, Wesley.

We also think that frank will be arrested for raping Indian women but that he wont get the necessary punishment because his brother is the sheriff. **

__PART THREE__


 * Imagery/Symbolism**

“I couldn’t shake the image – my uncle Frank with his ear to the basement ventilator – and then it seemed to me that if I were to return to my listening post, Uncle Frank and I could be connected, two ears attached to the same sheet-metal system. And what if Frank should speak, should suddenly shout his innocence – his voice would travel the entire house unheard to arrive at my ear!” (Watson 121)

"My father was on the floor of the root cellar, and when I first saw the blood swirled like oil through the other liquids, I thought he had cut his bare feet on the broken glass that was everywhere." (Watson 160)

"Was it silence that finally woke me? At around six o'clock I came awake. The morning was overcast, dim, so there was no sunlight flooding my room. Birds do not sing at a gray sky with the same vigor as at a blue one, so their songs were not shaking me awake. From the basement there was no sound of Uncle Frank shattering jars. What else could it have been but silence?" (Watson 154-155)

**• Interesting Passages (at least two passages, cited in proper MLA format)**

1. He pointed to the basement door. "Frank's down there...he's in the basement...I've arrested him. He's down there now." (Watson 109)

This passage is important because this is when readers find out that Frank has been molesting his patients so David's dad has locked him up in his laundry room until further notice.

2. As I climbed the stairs, I felt something for my uncle in death that I hadn't felt for him in life. It was gratitude, yes, but it was something more. It was very close to love. (Watson 162)

This passage is important because we just found out that Frank has died and now we know how David really feels about his uncle.

How will the town think of Wes and his family now after they found out his brother raped Indian women and then killed himself? Will all these events change David's life in a bad way or good? **
 * Questions

When there is a lot of dysfunction in a family, it affects the children in the family the most. David is dealing with all these issues dealing with his uncle and his past problems. There are times where kids just feel like being alone whether it has to do with a family illness, a divorce, or any issue that would upset their lives. If the adults in the family are fighting, it usually makes kids think about other sad things. David said he felt upset because he thought he wasn’t going to see his horse again. Usually I think of sad things sometimes that put me in a bad mood. For David, all these events are making him think of other sad things that make him even more upset.
 * Connections to Modern life**