MCC Reads Book Discussion Questions

 

Utilize this compilation of book discussion questions to enhance your reading experience and generate group discussion about the MCC Reads 2024 book selections, The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, and Life as We Knew It, by Susan Beth Pfeffer.

 

Please be aware that this discussion guide contains spoilers.

 

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

 

1. How does the father and son's relationship change throughout the book?
2. Do you think the father is mentally stable?
3. How does the end of the book change the reader's perspective of the father?
4. Why do you think McCarthy has chosen not to give his characters names? How do the generic labels of "the man" and "the boy" affect the way in which readers relate to them?
5. How is McCarthy able to make the postapocalyptic world of The Road seem so real and utterly terrifying? Which descriptive passages are especially vivid and visceral in their depiction of this blasted landscape?
6. McCarthy doesn't make explicit what kind of catastrophe has ruined the Earth and destroyed human civilization, but what might be suggested by the many descriptions of a scorched landscape covered in ash?
7. The man and the boy think of themselves as the "good guys." In what ways are they like and unlike the "bad guys" they encounter? 
8. McCarthy's work often dramatizes the opposition between good and evil, with evil sometimes emerging triumphant. What does The Road ultimately suggest about good and evil? Which force seems to have greater power in the novel?
9. As the father is dying, he tells his son he must go on in order to "carry the fire." When the boy asks if the fire is real, the father says, "It's inside you. It was always there. I can see it" [p. 279]. What is this fire? Why is it so crucial that they not let it die?
10. What are the effects of the lack of punctuation (apostrophe, quotation marks, commas)?
11. How does McCarthy leave the reader at the end of the novel: hopeful or skeptical? Consider the last paragraph.

Questions inspired by BookRags.com, Litlovers.com, www.wsfcs.k12.nc.us

 

 

Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

 

From author Susan Beth Pfeffer: When I was writing Life as We Knew It, I fantasized about it being used in book discussion groups... I thought it might be interesting if someone were looking for book discussion topics about any of the moon books to get some ideas from their author (aka Me). I worked on it and came up with 5 discussion topics for the book.

1. Does Miranda's family do enough to survive? Is there anything else you can think of to do that they didn't?
2. Miranda is an athlete. Do you think that helped her? If so, how?
3. What everyday thing would you miss the most? What would you be most worried about?
4. How would things have been different if Mom hadn't made them stockpile all the groceries and supplies on Crazy Shopping Day?
5. Did Miranda skate with Brandon? What do you think the author thinks?

Questions from http://susanbethpfeffer.blogspot.com/

MCC Reads Sponsors

 

MCC Reads is sponsored by Montcalm Community College and the MCC Foundation.