A Prayer for the Dying Discussion questions
A Prayer for the Dying
A Novel
by Stewart O’Nan
ISBN-10: 0-312-42891-X
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-42891-4
About this Guide
The following author biography and list of questions about A Prayer for the Dying are intended as resources to aid individual readers and book groups who would like to learn more about the author and this book. We hope that this guide will provide you a starting place for discussion, and suggest a variety of perspectives from which you might approach A Prayer for the Dying.
About the Book
Set in Friendship, Wisconsin, just after the Civil War, A Prayer for the Dying tells of a horrible epidemic that is suddenly and gruesomely killing the town's residents and setting off a terrifying paranoia. Jacob Hansen, Friendship's sheriff, undertaker, and pastor, is soon overwhelmed by the fear and anguish around him, and his sanity begins to fray. Dark, poetic, and chilling, A Prayer for the Dying examines the effect of madness and violence on the morality of a once-decent man.
About the Author
Stewart O’Nan’s novels include Last Night at the Lobster, The Night Country, and A Prayer for the Dying. He is also the author of the nonfiction books The Circus Fire and, with Stephen King, the bestselling Faithful. Granta named him one of the Twenty Best Young American Novelists. He lives in Connecticut.
Discussion Questions
1. The book is narrated in the second person, addressing the main character, Jacob, as “you.” Who is speaking? Why do you think the author chose this mode to tell the story?
2. When Jacob is called to take care of Clytie, he has a very hard time pulling the trigger. Look at the passage (p. 49) in which he has to convince himself to kill her. Why does he agonize when he knows it’s the right thing? What does it mean that he’s “still clinging to some dream of innocence, blamelessness”? Does he continue to cling to that dream later in the story?
3. Why does Jacob elect to bleed and treat the bodies of some victims, even after Doc has told him not to, and even though he knows he’s putting himself in danger? Why is precision and diligence so important to him even when everyone around him is worried only about survival?
4. What role does religious faith play in the story? How does it influence Jacob, Chase, and other citizens of Friendship? Is their faith rewarded?
5. Jacob is a veteran of the Civil War. How does his experience there affect the way he behaves in the crisis in Friendship? How did the war change him?
6. How would you describe the relationship between Jacob and Doc? How do their different ideas about the world lead to different strategies for handling the outbreak in Friendship?
7. How does Jacob’s relationship with Marta affect his behavior in the outbreak? How do his priorities as a father and husband conflict with his responsibility to the town?
8. How do you interpret the book’s ending? What is Jacob choosing when he returns to Friendship? What do you imagine happening to him next?
9. Is Jacob sane at the end of the book? How does the author demonstrate the changes in his mind as conditions worsen?
10. “You’ve stopped believing in evil,” the narrator says of Jacob early in the story (p. 6). “Is that a sin?” Is there evil in this story? Does Jacob come to see it by the end?
11. How do the book’s two epigraphs relate to each other? Why do you think the author chose them?
12. Jacob is committed throughout the book to saving Friendship, and willing to sacrifice himself if necessary. Is he naïve? Does his commitment to principle do more harm than good in the end? Begin working on second person short stories.
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1. I think Stewart O'Nan chose to write in second person not only as an experiment but as a way to try to pull the reader in even deeper. By making it "you," he is making it more (frighteningly) personal for the person reading the story. IF they give in to the you, they are giving up their own opinions and thoughts to Jacob, which gives the book a larger amount of persuasive power.
ReplyDelete2. Jacob agaonizes over killing Clytie because she reminds him so much of his time in the war. He says on page 45, "Clytie reminds you of those horses you owe your life to, the ones your regiment ate raw from the inside out those long weeks, sleeping between their empty ribs..." He feels guilty for ending the life of something that is a reminder of what saved him from dying. He feels as though, in the circle of life and death, it isn't fair.
1. The author is using you as the narration in order to 'get in the narrators head'. This allows the author to get very close with a character and adds a different vibe to the book. In A Prayer for the Dying, the you is Jacob.
ReplyDelete2.Jacob has to convince himself that killing Clytie is the right thing to do because he knows a great amount of guilt will follow. He 'clings to some dream of innocence' meaning he tries to remember his life before war, when everything was different.
1) I think Stewart O'nan uses second person to give the reader a deeper connection to the main character connection. The main character being Jacob but being referred as you gives the reader the feeling as if you are the you that the author is referring too. It gives the book a more suspenseful feeling making you wonder what "you" are actually going to do in throughout the story.
ReplyDelete2) Jacob has to a hard time actually pulling the trigger and killing Clytie because the horse reminds him of his time when he was in war and how they helped keep him alive. He knows its the right thing to do, he knows that he has to kill the horse but it was just a hard situation for him because he knows the horse is actually innocent creature. I think its more of the fact that sleeping in a dead horse actually saved his life but he cant return the favor by saving Clytie.
1. The author is using you as the narration so it could have the reader picture themselves as the character and get close with the character.
ReplyDelete2. Jacob has a hard time pulling the trigger to kill Clytie because she reminds him of when he was in the war and he tells himself that it is the right thing to do because he will feel guilty afterwards.
Stewart O'nan uses second person to give the reader a much deeper connection with the characters, this gives us a teleporter to the characters mind so we read what they think, what they feel. This gives us more understanding on character decisions as well. Jacob is the you of course.
ReplyDelete2) Jacob is hesitant to kill clytie because is reminds him of his days at wear even thoe deep down he knows it is what's right, he is still trying to hold on to this thought of peace before the war.
1. The author Stewart O'nan chose to write in second person to give the reader a deep connection with the character. It kin d of feels like the author is referring to you personal which helps with that connection. its kind of like someone is narrating your life which adds more suspense as you read the story.
ReplyDelete2. Jacob is contemplating between killing Clytie. He is having a battle with his own conscious. He knows that if he kills her its the right thing to do but because he knows the feeling during war. He knows after he does it he will feel shamed and guilty. That would hurt him on the inside.
1: O'nan uses 2nd person to bring a closer connection.For example, Jacob is the protagonist; however, the author refers him as you.By using 2nd person, it gets the reader to personally be in the situation that the protagonist is facing.
ReplyDelete2. Jacob has a hard time killing Clytie because it brings memories during the time he was in war and how dead horses kept him from actually getting killed by the enemy thus making him in debt to horses but he realizes he cannot return that debt by saving him.
1. Stewart O'Nan chose to write this novel in second person because I think that he wanted an intimate narrator where it can fairly hide things from the reader also as a way to get into the narrator's head. In this novel, the one who is speaking is "you" but as Jacob.
ReplyDelete2. Jacob has a hard time to pull the trigger and killing Clytie because it's reminding of the time he was in war and how their's going to be guilt followed after he kills her. As also how he is killing the an innocent life that reminds him of himself being saved from dying. He means by “still clinging to some dream of innocence, blamelessness" that he is still clinging to the time before the war.
1. I believe the author tells the story in second person to give a better connection better yet an understanding from the character himself and as what goes on in his head and how he see's and feels about everything personally.
ReplyDelete2.Jacob has a difficult time trying to pull the trigger he is questioning his actions mentally and physically also because of what happened during the war he is trying to keep peace.
2.
1) Jacob is the protagonist and the voice is in his head. I think that Stewart O’nan chose to write in second person so that the readers could connect better with the voice and get closer with the character
ReplyDelete2) Jacob beats himself up so much over killing Clytie because she starts to remind him of the horses back in the war and feels guilty because he feels the horses played a part in keeping him alive. He was clinging to some dream of blamelessness meaning he was clinging to the way he was before the war. He tells himself that is was the right thing to do in the moment but he does feel guilty later on.