Staggerford Discussion Questions -- The “Bigger” Issues

1.) FIRST, discuss and clear up any questions or confusions you or members of your group have about the novel. Ask for clarification from me, if necessary.

2.) Discuss the character of Miles. What was your initial reaction to him? What sort of a person do you find him to be throughout the novel? Does he grow, develop, or change throughout the novel? Would you consider him a “hero” in any way? Or, is he an “anti-hero”? Is he a “tragic hero”?

3.) Discuss the character of Agatha. What is her role in the novel? What does she “bring” to the novel? What do you think of her? Does she grow, develop, or change throughout the novel?

4.) Discuss Miles’s relationships with the major female characters in the novel -- Agatha McGee, Anna Thea (Thanatopsis) Workman, Beverly Bingham, Imogene Kite. What is significant about Miles’s relationships with these women? How are these relationships similar and different?

5.) Discuss Miles’s relationship with the major male characters in the novel -- Principal Wayne Workman, Superintendent Ansel Stevenson, Coach Herbert Gibbon. What is significant about Miles’s relationships with these men? How are these relationships similar and different?

6.) Discuss the images and portrayals of students and teachers in the novel. Consider the variety of students in the novel. Consider the variety of teachers. (Consider Miles especially!) Are these images and portrayals primarily positive or negative? Why might Hassler feature them the way(s) he does?

7.) Discuss the images and portrayals of Native Americans (Indians) in the novel. How does Hassler “treat” the Indians? Is the treatment primarily positive or negative? Would you consider the images and portrayals to be stereotypical or racist in any way? (Consider both perspectives: the characters’ and the author’s.) Why might Hassler feature them the way(s) he does?

8.) Discuss Miles’s death. How did it affect you? Why does it happen? Is there any foreshadowing of his death? Is his death symbolic or metaphorical in any way? What are the after-effects of his death?

9.) Discuss what you consider to be the major theme(s), message(s), and/or intention(s) of the novel. Are there any very memorable scenes or passages which directly address a major them, message, or intention?

10.) Discuss the major settings of the novel. Consider both places -- Staggerford (small-town Minnesota), the high school, Agatha’s house, the cemetery, the gulch and the Bingham farm, Pike Park, Sandhill Indian Reservation, etc. -- and time -- late October, early November, Halloween (Saturday), All Saints’ Day (Sunday), All Souls’ Day (Monday), etc. How are any of these significant, symbolic, etc.?

11.) Discuss the overall structure of the novel. What is the effect of using the days of the week as the major structuring device? What about using the hours of the school day? What about the shorter, “imbedded” pieces, such as Agatha’s flashbacks, Miles’s journal, the “What I Wish” papers, etc.?