QUESTIONS

1. Read the first 4 ½ pages of the novel carefully. Notice how much information Just is able to get across in those few pages. What details does he use to capture the pace of life in 1950’s Chicago? What details does he use to capture the moods and attitudes of the characters?
   

2. How do events in Chicago and Quarterday parallel events going on in the U.S. and the world at the time the story takes place?
   

3. Wils says about his father, “I watched him in order to learn what it was to be a man...” (p. 17). What does Wils learn about being a man? Does he accept or reject his father as a role model? Does he have other adult role models?
   

4. What events bring Wils close to his father? What draws them apart?
   

5. What does the story about the cigarette box say about Teddy and Jo’s marriage?
   

6. Why does Wils say he feels “hemmed in”?
   

7. How does the house remodeling episode change the Ravans' lives?
   

8. Why does the story of the “colored woman” found frozen and then thawed and revived keep popping up? Why are people so intrigued by it?
   

9. What does Wils learn about life the summer he is 19? In what ways is he still ignonrant/naive about life?
   

10. What does Wils learn about power? Who are his teachers?
    

11. What do the characters in the book fear? What effect does their fear have on their lives?
    

12. Why is Wils so fascinated by Jack Brule’s appearance (p. 83-4)?
    

13. How does the theme of secrecy in families carry through the book? What about secrecy in government?
    

14. Why is Wils reluctant to tell Aurora the truth about what her father refers to as “the hike” (p. 156)?
    

15. Why does Wils take Connie’s side in the argument between her and Aurora?
    

16. Why does Aurora consider this an unforgivable offense?
    

17. Does the quote in Jack’s note: “Farewell the tranquil mind/ Put out the light” seem at odds with his personality? Would you describe his mental state as “tranquil”? Why did he choose this quote?
    

18. Do Connie’s answers to Jack’s questions on the night he visits her in Famagusta shed light on the past?