Daily Archives: February 15, 2011

Discussion Questions-Monkeys

J1: Question One: Minot’s first chapter “Hiding” concerns itself not only with physical hiding but with other kinds of hiding as well. In your opinion, what are some of these characters hiding? Why?

J1: Question Two: Explain what you think Rico means by “naming and framing.” Give an example of an incident or emotion that one of the characters in Minot’s Monkeys might name or frame.

J1: Question Three: In Minot’s Monkeys, the narrator’s point of view shifts from first person in “Hiding” to third person in “Thanksgiving Day” and in the rest of the novel. What effect does this shift in the narrator’s point of view have on you as a reader? Why? Who is the first person narrator in “Hiding”? Is the narrator’s identity important?

J2: Question One: How does Rico suggest that clustering can be helpful in determining feelings and anxieties?
Take any one character in Monkeys, and imagine you are creating a cluster for that character.
What words might you include in your cluster?
What might those words reveal to you?
J2: Question Two: In Monkeys, the chapter “Accident,” ends with the frightening image:

. . . the Devil had swooped down and had landed and was lingering with them all, hulking in the middle of the kitchen table, settling down to stay. (126)

React to this image in the context of the two different accidents referred to in this chapter.

J2: Question Three: Minot uses the word “navigator” in both a literal and a metaphorical sense, literally, as someone who steers or manages a boat when sailing; metaphorically, as someone who steers or manages a family on an appropriate course.
Explore the idea of the “navigator” in Monkeys.
Who is the navigator? Who should be the navigator? Can there be more than one navigator in a family? Does this role shift during the course of the novel?