Reading Guide Questions

Reading Guide Answers

• I predict that the chapter beginning on page 81 will talk about Peccola and how she falls astray. I predict this because the chapter heading is "Seethecatitgoesmeowmeowcome / and playcomeandplaywithjane / thekittenwillnotplayplayplaypla." Cats are independent creatures--living alone. Cats that have no home are stray cats. According to the chapter heading, the cat will not play with Jane--who we infer is a parallel to Peccola. We can also see that the spaces are still missing, connoting a sense of urgency and loss of control. Taking all those factors into account, I predict that the chapter will tell readers about Peccola's worst moments and how her life spirals out of control to the point which she becomes so "disgusting" and so "astray" from societal norms that even a cat won't "play" with her.
•  Mobile, Meridian, Aiken and Baton Rouge are all populated heavily by African Americans. If I were to guess what was so important about them is that each of them have a hidden secret it keeps behind its curtains, away from the public eye.
• Honestly, I have no idea why curly/wavy-hair women straighten their hair nor why straight-hair women curl their hair, it has always been a mystery to me. To "worry about the edges of [one's] hair" seems to refer to some sort of beauty standard. Maybe it references how women hate "split ends" (what even is a split end?) or maybe it references how people present themselves to the world.
• I think the clause is a juxtaposition of the common belief that white colored skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes are the beauty standard. Like I said before, the cities Morrison named were heavily populated by African Americans. Therefore, it is likely that the beauty standard in those said cities is in fact the "lovely black necks that stretch as though against an invisible collar." The collar could also be an allusion to slavery. Who knows. Valentino does.
• To me, "funkiness" describes anything that deviates from normality. Different connotations of funk include: 80's music, crazy vibrant colors,  drugs, Bruno Mars.
• People clean and organize when they have problems as a desperate act to literally "clean" and "organize" their life. I personally do this as well and I find it helps because it gives me a sense of control as well as confidence to once again face my problems head on.
• People like cats because they're independent and require very little maintenance. I genuinely hate cats so I find them utterly repulsive and see no values or "qualities...that are good."
• If a mother never expressed love or tenderness to her child, regardless of how well she satisfied his physical needs, the child would become detached from the world and he'd never trust anyone or allow anyone to latch onto him. The child would be very cold and stoic--emotionless.
• The distinction being made here is regarding a man's ability to control anything and everything, regardless of skin color. This statement is very clear and truly crude and disgusting. I mean to begin the  single distinction made is if a man can be civilized or not. I mean really? So you're telling me that if I found a WHITE man and he was loud, obnoxious and UNcivilized, that he too would be a "nigger"? If to you that is how it is, then first off, I'd like to say that you've got to be the spawn of Satan to even consider that. Secondly, I hope you realize the historical negative connotations that word carried and how utterly putrid of a person you can be to even dare to label someone as that. Thirdly, why do we have to continue to recycle social issues we have already overcome as a nation and recreate this divide between us? 
• Possible implications: Innocence-snowflake/dying or falling-lost or destroyed/pavement-society; wintertime-snowflake/wintertime-death. So "innocence is lost as society destroys it" or a foreshadowing of death and loss or tragedy.