Transcript of book club conversation 3/5/13

"ANAG" Book Club: 3/5/13

N: What if the mom’s humming isn’t a signal anymore?

A.M.: Yeah because in the book she kept humming, but nothing…

A.V.: Nothing was really a sign. Mostly bad things were happening to other people except for the mom.

AM: Like remember, I think Sounder survived because he went inside the leaves…

[others jump in]: The oak leaves!

AM: So I think he just went in there, that’s why he wasn’t under the house. So he must have went to the woods. He probably knew it would heal him, because of his ear.

G: But how would it heal his eye?

AV: If he lost his eye? Because when he got shot, I can’t imagine how he actually lost one of his eyes.

AM: Because either the eye healed on it’s own, or the leaves somehow…

N: But the ice would be able to heal his eyes…

G: Because if your eye gets hurt, you can’t get another eye.

AV: When I read, I read this amazing part that after Sounder got shot, a little while later, he barked for the first time when he got shot.

AM: So I guess he’s feeling like a lot better from the trees. But if the trees were high, I think the leaves would have to be on the floor.

G: They were like falling or something. Or they were like a bush.

AM: Yeah.

AV: Because there is no way that a dog that is wounded can jump that high up a tree.

AM: Yeah, they could be really hurt, so they can’t jump like crazy.

Teacher: I’m hearing you guys talk a lot about the details of the story. Is that right? Like would you agree that that’s what you’re focusing on? How could we take our discussion to the next level?

AV: I’m wondering why did they have to shoot Sounder in the first place?
N: Because, I remember that the officer told the boy to hold Sounder, and if didn’t, and he goes running after the father, he would shoot the dog. So that’s why he shot the dog, because the boy didn’t hold onto Sounder, and Sounder went running after the car where the boy’s father was.

AV: Exactly, but if Sounder wanted to go after the boy’s father, why did they shoot him?

G: Because they told him to hold him!

N: Because, I don’t know, they probably thought he would be able to like do something to the sheriff.

AM: There was a part…where the boy, he keeps talking about some guy named David. I think like, a king, like King David.

G: No, it’s like a story that his mom tells him!

AM: Oh, that’s what I was confused by.

Teacher: Why would his mother keep telling this story?

G: And then the one about Joseph!

AM: Maybe it represents something…

AV: It represents something but we can’t…

AM: Because we’re kind of in the middle of the book, so we can’t tell…

AV: …what it means!

Teacher: So you have this idea that the story represents something, but you’re not quite sure what?

N: It was before when the boy asked his mom if she could tell him the story, and she just stayed quiet. Like he wanted to hear the story but that was before. She never said it again. He asked her, but she just stayed quiet.

Teacher: What does that make you think?

N: Maybe it’s because his dad was in jail and she didn’t really want to think about it.

AM: I mean, who wants to have a thought that their husband is in prison. Because of stealing a ham! But I see a reason why they put him in jail, but then I see a reason why they shouldn’t have too. Because for one, he stole something from the owner. And one reason I think they shouldn’t have is that his family was hungry.

AV: They hardly have anything to eat.

AM: Yeah, so they would have to steal because he can’t just let his family starve.

Teacher: So you’re kind of trying to figure out, did he do the right thing or the wrong thing?

N: He did the right thing because—

AV: And then at the same time he did the bad thing because, he stole the food, but I don’t see a reason why they put him in jail for a piece of ham.

AM: And at the same time, his family is hungry. So…

N: They didn’t care about African-Americans.

Teacher: Do you think his race had anything to do with him being thrown in jail?

G: Yeah, because he was an African-American. And he lived in a little house.

N: A lot of people were slaves. There were kind of like slaves…

G: No, it was past slavery. In the 19^th century.

A: And then they kept on talking about a big house.

AM: Yeah, that’s where they were…

AV: As being slaves…