Study Questions
1. What is one of John’s earliest memories?

2. What do the women do to Linda in the weaving room? Why?

3. How do the women punish Linda for her promiscuity?

4. When John calls Linda “Mother,” what does she do? What does he always call her after that?

5. Why does John often turn to the old men of the tribe?

6. Why is John always in ragged clothes? What is his solace?

7. What book does Popé bring for John?

8. What does Mitsima teach John?

9. What does John do when he is denied the initiation rite?

10. When Bernard offers to take John to London, what does John ask?

Answers
1. John remembers being locked out of Linda’s room so Popé could have sex with her.

2. Linda had broken some threads on the loom. The women scream at her and chase her out.

3. The women of the pueblo break into Linda’s house, hold Linda down on the bed, and beat her.

4. Linda slaps John when he calls her Mother. After that, he always calls her Linda.

5. The old men of the tribe can use tribal lore to explain many things to John that are beyond Linda’s comprehension.

6. Linda has no idea how to mend or wash clothes; so John always looks ragged and dirty. He uses his reading as his escape.

7. Popé had found an ancient copy of Shakespeare’s plays in a trunk. He brings the book to John.

8. Mitsima is kind to John. He tries to teach him how to make decorative and practical pottery and promises to teach him how to make a bow.

9. John goes to the edge of the mesa and sits facing the moon. From his own mixed-up mythology, he creates his own initiation rite.

10. John wants Linda to go to London, too.