Notes for Motorcycles and Sweetgrass



Motorcycles and Sweetgrass

Chapter Ten

Read over page 102. What is the image that has been carved on the limestone? Why is this significant? What does it represent? Who do you think carved it?

Read over the following quote: “There was another figure a smaller one carved under a small ledge. Just below it, he thought he saw a word scratched into the rock. Virgil thought the word was tikwamshin . . . . It appeared to be that of the sun on the horizon” (103). What does tikwamshin mean? Why is this important?

Chapter Eleven

How does Virgil feel about John? Read over pages 114-116 and find evidence to support your answer.

Read over the following quote and the rest of the paragraph on pages 118-119 spoken by John to Maggie. Why is this significant? What is he saying about the world Maggie lives in?

“Oh, I think she realized how times had changed more that you may know. You have to understand, your mother came from a time when people believed in mystical and magical things. The forest was alive. There were spirits everywhere…” (119).

Make connections between this quote and what Lillian says to Maggie in chapter 4, “No child, you’re what they call nowadays a First Nations. They don’t necessarily mean the same thing” (45). How is this novel concerned with identity?

Chapter Twelve

What are the potential uses for the purchased land? Make a list.

Read over the following quote about John:

“He was dancing! He was a blur of movement one minute, and almost still the next. At times John was silhouetted against the almost –full moon. Virgil was mesmerized. This wasn’t any type of dancing he’d seen on television or at powwows. It had an ancient, tribal quality. And yet at the same time, a modern innovative style. And just about everything in between” (130).

What does this quote reveal about the character of John? Who is John?

Chapter Thirteen

1. Read over page 142. Who do you think is the woman John is talking about?

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download