The Orenda, Joseph Boyden

The Orenda

By Joseph Boyden

(Tansley Reads Rating: 60%)

 

Icebreaker

 

Have you ever encountered a cultural difference?

 

 

Questions

 

1.  What is the significance of the title of this book?  Would you have given it a                 different title?  If yes, what would your title be?  

 

2.  The author draws a lot of his history from the historical record.  The Jesuits had an obvious interest in perpetuating these tales of savagery in order to justify their mission.  Do you think records taken from the “crow’s” point of view can truly be relied on as an accurate account of native life?

 

3.  Do you feel the voices of these three characters a good choice?  Did you like seeing an event from different points of view?  Is there any voice that has been left out that should have been included?

 

4.  At what moment do you think Snow Falls came to accept Bird as her father?

 

5.  How did Christophe change from when we first meet him to the end of the book?

 

6.  What do you think makes Christophe so devout when his faith is subjected to so many challenges?

 

7.  What do you think about Bird taking Snow Falls and why did he tolerate such bad behaviour from her? 

 

8.  Do the main characters change or grow by the end of the book?  Do their experiences cause them to grow or mature?  If so, how?  Do they learn something about themselves and how the world works?

 

9.  Are the characters convincing to you?  Do they come alive for you?  How would you describe them?  (sympathetic, likeable, etc.)

 

10.  How does the way the characters see themselves, differ from how others see them?  How do you see the various characters?  How did the roles of the various characters influence their interactions?  i.e.  for a woman:  mother, daughter, sister, wife, lover, professional, etc.

 

11.  What role did women play in the Wendat culture?

 

12.  The violence in this book is horrific.  How does this compare with the brutality of the inquisition or things we’ve read about (holocaust?)  Does it make any difference that the natives’ torture (“caressing”) and killing of their prisoners honour and respect those enemies?

Do you think it necessary that the author included such graphic description of the “caressing”?

 

13.  Is there anything we haven’t covered that you would like to discuss?

 

14:  Quick round – What did you think of the book?