Into the Beautiful North Readers Guide

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From Writers and Books Readers Guide:

DISCUSSION POINTS FOR READERS OF INTO THE BEAUTIFUL NORTH

The Author’s Craft

• How does the title set the tone for the book? How does it relate to the story told?

• How does the book’s epigraph, which mentions searching, friends and stories, set the stage?

• How does the author, Luís Alberto Urrea, inform the reader about the initial setting of the narrative? What does the novel tell us about the people and culture of that region?

• How does the author inform the reader about the landscape his characters are exploring?

• How are the personalities of the various characters revealed through small details?

• In what ways can this story be considered mythical?

• In what ways is the novel satirical? How does humor function in the novel?

• What social commentary does the author offer?

• How does he exhibit empathy in his writing?

• While primarily written in English, the language of the novel hinges on the Spanish language, and the author does include colloquial Spanish and Spanglish. What effect does this have on the narrative?

• Discuss Urrea’s writing style, including sentence structure, diction, tone, setting, narrative structure, and use of imagery and figurative language such as metaphors.

• Discuss how Urrea’s writing is visual. In what ways is it cinematic?

• What portions or aspects of the writing did you find most artful and/or enjoyable to read?

Characters & Motivations

• Who is the main character/protagonist in the novel?

• In what ways does Nayeli fulfill the role of heroine? Does she remind you of other literary heroines?
• What differing circumstances bring each of the main characters into the story?
• How does each of them come by their conceptions of what life in the United States is like? How does the reality match, or differ from, their expectations?
• How does each of the main characters change over the course of their journey to and in the United States? How does each reconsider their lives, their futures? Track their emotional and psychological shifts.
• How do the differing stories parallel or diverge from one another?
• How does each character see himself or herself before they make the trip? Do they see themselves differently as the story ends?
• Which character is most fundamentally changed by this experience?
• How does Urrea dispel possible stereotypes about several of the novel’s characters?
• What do you admire or dislike about each character? Does this opinion change over the course of the novel?
• How do the complicated issues surrounding race and class affect trust and other aspects of the characters’ relationships?
• Narratives such as this ask readers to gain insight into and empathize with characters who might on the surface seem very unlike us; indeed part of the pleasure we get derives from feeling that we are getting inside others’ heads and lives and satisfying our curiosity. Therefore it is pertinent to ask: How do these characters show curiosity about, insight into or empathy for other characters? Where is lack of such traits an issue?
• This is a border book, with the narrative taking place on two sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. How do the characters exist on either side? What is different for the Mexican characters once they go north, and what is the same for them?

Issues and Themes

• What are the many different borders that the characters encounter and cross?
• How are class issues presented in the novel?
• How are various gender relations portrayed?
• What different kinds of friendships are evident?
• How are different types of “family” and nurturing portrayed and understood? How do different family structures or relationships parallel one another?
• What role do religious faith, home life or cultural expectations or mores play in each character’s journey?
• Where do you see elements of the Catholic faith, especially symbolism, play into the novel?
• How is corruption of different kinds displayed in the story and how is it confronted by different characters?
• In what scenes do Nayeli and her friends exhibit trust for strangers? In what ways are they rewarded?
• In what ways are the concepts of family and home expressed or remembered by the different characters?
• How do the various landscapes become characters in the novel? How does landscape interact with the human characters and vice versa?
• How does cinema figure in many of the novel’s different narrative threads?
• If you have not, watch Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 film Seven Samurai, which inspired John Sturges’ 1960 western The Magnificent Seven. What of the later film in particular inspired Nayeli? Can you directly compare the characters of the seven gunfighters in the film to the characters in Urrea’s novel?
• How are tradition and such modern elements as pop culture balanced in the narrative?
• How do the elements of magic realism function within the novel? Is this evidenced on both sides of the border?
• How does the book differ from other journey narratives with which you are familiar?
• How does each of our heroes experience life in the United States?
• In what ways is this a heroine’s journey?
• How does the author use symbol and especially myth in the narrative?
• How does fiction serve to tell this immigration/searching story differently from the way it would be conveyed in a nonfiction book?
• What is the significance of the book ending with a new, uncertain story about to begin? What does it say about the importance of storytelling?

Speculative Questions

• What do you think Urrea’s motivations were in writing this novel?

• Would this story affect readers on different sides of the border differently? Why?
• Why did so many men respond to Aunt Irma’s call to return to Tres Camarones?
• What might have been different for Nayeli if she had approached and spoken to her father?
• Unlike in the two warrior films that inspired the narrative journey and the novel, we do not see the showdown between our growing band of warriors and the banditos back in Tres Camarones. Why did the author not make this the culminating event of the novel?

Related Writing Projects

• Write a few entries in a reflective trip journal by Nayeli, exploring her travels with Tacho to Kankakee.
• Write a love letter to Aunt Irma from Chava. And/or vice versa.
• Write a letter from Nayeli to her father sharing her journey and reasons for not speaking to him. Have her father write back. Start the other way and have Nayeli’s father write to her after finding the postcard she left. Have her write back about what has changed.