Group+One

Book Group Template DATE: GROUP #: 1 MEMBERS: kim stathes, delaney harmonay, nicollette corrado, sam moraites

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:

• Imagery/ Symbolism **Not sure why this is blank....**

• 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:

Narrator’s Father Narrator’s mother (Gail) Marie and Ronnie Tall Bear Uncle Frank (and Aunt Gloria) Grandfather

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

• Questions/ Predictions you have:

• Connections to modern life or your personal life

Uncle frank

• Frank is witty, charming, and at ease with his life. • He molested the Indian girls. “ The reason, Wesley, the reason marie didn’t want to be examined by frank is that he.. he has… is that your brother has molested the Indian girls.”

Important passages

His tone must have angered her, because her voice went right back to where it had been earlier, ant though it seemed each word was the product of effort it also seemed born out of absolute determination. “ What things? I’ll tell you what things. Your brother makes his patients- some of his patients- undress completely and get into indecent positions. He makes them jump up and down while he watches. He fondles their breasts. He-no don’t turn away. Don’t! You asked and I’m going to tell you. All of it. He puts into these girls. Inside them, there. His instruments. His fingers. He has… your brother I believe has inserted his penis into some of these girls. Wesley, your brother is raping these women.”

Gail (Narrator’s mother)

What she says: • “My mother feared for my soul, a phrase sounds to me now comically overblown, yet I remember that those were precisely the words she used.” (21) • She is very caring • When she finds out Marie is sick she asks many questions which shows she cares • She asks, “What’s wrong?” • Checks her temperature and asks, “How long have you been sick for?” • Gail is basically interrogating her, but is doing it because she is worried and scared • Gail wants to call a doctor but Marie refuses so she calls uncle Frank

What she does: • She plants and likes flowers • She is taking care of Marie • Checks up on Marie non-stop • Puts blankets on Marie so she can sweat off her temperature • Tells Wes to call uncle Frank to check up on her • Stays with Marie while uncle Frank observes her • Tells Wes about uncle Frank and what he does to his patients

What others say about her: • David basically speaks about his mother being caring for others • She is demanding sometimes when she tells David to stay out of the room while she is with Marie • Everyone thinks she is caring and loving • Even though Marie is Indian, Gail still cares for her as if she was her own

Narrator’s Father This character doesn’t really say much. His life is narrated by David and just from his point of view. Wes Hayden was David Hayden’s (the narrator) father. He is a small town sheriff. He went to school and graduated to become a lawyer but because he is a “Hayden” the power of his name requires that he become a sheriff like his father and the rest of the Hayden’s were. David thinks that his father’s job is almost a joke because he feels like he doesn’t do anything. David mentions how his father doesn’t have a gun or carry it around if he does have one. Also he mentions how his father spends his Saturday night’s usually chaperoning dances at night and he often takes David and David’s mother along with them and that goes to show you that his job doesn’t require him to do much. David also tells us how his father has the degree and schooling to be a lawyer but he chose to be the sheriff because the “Hayden” name is already in it and the weight of the powerful name lies on his shoulders.
 * 1) What the character says:
 * 1) What the character does:
 * 1) What others/narrator says about the character:

Questions/Predictions: Why doesn’t Wes Hayden be a lawyer? Is a family tradition really that important when it isn’t your dream?

-Imagery/Symbolism -“But all of northeastern Montana is hard country- the land is dry and sparse and the wind never stops blowing. The heat and thunderstorms in summer can be brutal, and the winters are legendary for the fierceness of their blizzards and the depths to which temperatures drop.” -This is describing how harsh Montanans seasons can be.

-“As soon as Uncle Frank arrived, his tie loosened and his sleeves rolled up, I felt sorry for my father.” -This is giving us a visual of how the doctor got to work instead of saying something like, ‘Right when he got there he got to work.”

-“He simply stood there, his feet planted wide, his hands on his hips.” -This is also giving us a visual of the scene, by describing details.

Grandfater -"Why did my grandfather first run for sheriff? This one i can probably answer, my memory and knowledge of him. He wanted, needed power. He was a dominating man who drew sustenace and strength from controlling others. To him, being the law's agent probably seemed part of a natural progression-first you master the land and its beasts, then you regulate the behavior of men and women." -"The sheriff of Mercer County was elected, but such was my grandfather's popularity and influence- and the weight of the Hayden name-that it was enough for my grandfather to say, as he had earlier said of his deputy, now i want my son to have this job." -"He didn't 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 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." **Part One: nice job on most of this. Please be sure to fill out all this information completely in the future. 18/20**

Imagery/Symbolism -“There was nothing uncommon about my father (or any other citizen) being in the Coffee Cup on a summer afternoon, but my father usually sat at the large table I the center of the café, drinking coffee with his regular goup.” -This gives the reader a visual of the coffee place, and it also makes me picture his father in there.

-“We stood in the middle of the yard while a gusty wind that lowered the temperature twenty degrees in less then an hour whipped my mother’s hair in front of her face and wrapped her skirt tight against her legs. -This passage gives us a sense of the weather and how it effects them.

-“The following Sunday the wind that my mother loved was still blowing as we drove out to my grandparents’ ranch.” -I saw imagery in this because it said that he mother loved the wind.

Questions/Predictions: (FATHER)
 * What was the real reason the father went to get the honey for David’s mother? Was it more than to just make her happy?
 * Are his actions suspicious and unusual?
 * Are the fathers promise’s that he makes but fails to keep going to catch up to him in the end?
 * Do you think that David's father is aware of how he is seen through David's eyes? Does he care about David's opinions of him?