QUESTIONS

1. Sherman is mentioned by several characters before he appears in the book. What do others say about him?
   

2. Look for quotes that express various characters’ ideas and notions about the purposes of war.
   

3. What effect does the destruction they cause have on those doing the destroying?
   

4. What are the burdens of freedom for those who all their lives have been told what to do? What is freedom? Who is free in the book? (slaves, soldiers, prisoners)
   

5. There are a number of individuals who pretend to be what they are not. Who are they, and why do they assume the roles they do?
   

6. Will and Arly change uniforms depending on which army is in control. Are they bad people? How harshly should we judge them?
   

7. What do other characters do to survive?
   

8. Many scenes in The March illustrate extremes of behavior of people in time of war. What are some examples of this, and why do these individuals behave the way they do?
   

9. What are the limits of human endurance?
   

10. What is the symbolism of Pearl’s color and name?
    

11. Why does Pearl think she has to be taught to be free? What’s so difficult for her about being free?
    

12. Why does Calvin insist on documenting the experiences of the civilians? What does this photographic record stand for?
    

13. Humor would seem incongruous in a book whose subject is human cruelty and the graphic horrors of war, yet there are several funny scenes and comical characters. What are some of the funny scenes, and why do you think Doctorow includes them? What is the effect?
    

14. What religious images and/or references are there in the novel? For example, on page 76 Marcus Aurelius Thompson, surveying the destruction and misery caused by the Union invasion says, “The wretched war had destroyed not only their country but all their presumptions of human self-regard. What a scant, foolish pretense was a family, a culture, a place in history, when it was all so easily defamed. And God was behind this. It was God who did this, with the Union as his instrument.” Arly, of all people, talks a lot about “God’s plan.”
    

15. Doctorow’s characters come from all social levels and occupations, not just the military. How does this shape the novel?
    

16. Which characters experience healing, either physical or spiritual, in the course of the book?
    

17. How does Doctorow present the characters of Generals Sherman and Grant? Are they presented as fearless military heroes? What kind of leaders are they?
    

18. What does the author mean by “the romance of war” (p. 214)?
    

19. What does Sherman mean when he says (p. 348) “Language is war by other means.”?
    

20. Why does Sherman “feel a peculiar envy for Joe Johnston and the South he represented” (p. 348)?
    

21. At the end of the war, what does The March represent to Sherman?
    

22. The author of an article in Publisher’s Weekly (Sept. 12, 2005), says Doctorow “doesn’t really think of it [The March] as a Civil War book." If The March is not historical fiction about the Civil War, what is it about?
    

Questions compiled by Suzanne Fisher (fishers@uhls.lib.ny.us)
March 7, 2007