Flagg served as a spokesperson for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). What is the current status of the ERA? What events have transpired regarding it?

Does Flagg critique capital punishment in the novel? Is this criticism effective or just? What are your thoughts on the death penalty? On the other hand, does the novel support the idea of justified homicide?

Who is Tommy Thompson, to whom Fannie Flagg dedicates her book? How do you believe he influenced her? Who are some of her other southern influences?

Compare the experiences of the Peavey children. How do they navigate the challenges of living in a racist society?

Try making one or two of Sipsey's recipes included in the book. As you cook, contemplate the allegorical role of food in the novel. For instance, what is the significance of the community—from Georgia and Alabama—eating a murdered wife-beater cooked into a black man's barbecue?

React to the following statement Flagg made in an interview with Samuel S. Vaughan: "I tend to rail against the current fashion in American culture of glamorizing only very young, pretty girls and completely ignoring the most wonderful and sexiest of women, those who are adult. I find there is nothing more attractive than a genuinely adult man or woman."

What is domestic violence? How has society's perception of domestic violence evolved since 1929?