Catfish Alley (47 page)
Authors: Lynne Bryant
Tags: #Mississippi, #Historic Sites, #Tour Guides (Persons), #Historic Buildings - Mississippi, #Mississippi - Race Relations, #Family Life, #African Americans - Mississippi, #Fiction, #General, #African American, #Historic Sites - Mississippi, #African Americans
7.
Blacks
in Clarksville in the 1920s and '30s lived with the expectation that local law
enforcement would offer them little protection against violent crime and even
less justice once a crime was committed. Try to imagine what living all your
life in such circumstances would feel like. How do you think you would respond?
8.
The
women who run the antebellum home tour wonder how they can involve black women,
since having them dress as plantation daughters in hoopskirts or as slaves in
homespun seem equally discomforting. How might the women alter their
perspective to see other possibilities?
9.
Grace,
Adelle, and Junior all suffer terrible tragedies at the hands of white people,
yet they continue to pursue their personal dreams, refusing to allow grief and
loss to make them bitter, resentful or angry. In what ways do they suffer, and
how are their lives altered, despite their efforts? Were you surprised to learn
that Adelle nursed Ray Tanner in his final days? What do you think of her
confession about Ray's death?
10.
What
do you think will happen, or what do you
want
to happen, between Billy Webster and Daniel Mason?
11. By the end of the novel, Roxanne and Del have
gained a whole new perspective about the black community in Clarksville. As the
African-American tour becomes a fixture in town and interracial friendships
become more visible, how might blacks and whites continue to interact in new
ways? What specific changes can you imagine?
Lynne Bryant grew up in Columbus, Mississippi, and has
lived for many years in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where she teaches nursing
at the University of Colorado.
Catfish Alley
is her first novel. Visit her at lynnebryant.com.