Fall of Rome, The by Martha Southgate
By APOOO • Jun 13th, 2008 • Category: Discussion Guide •
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Fall of Rome, The by Martha Southgate BUY IT NOW
1) The novel’s epigraph makes reference to black America being more fissured than white America. How do you see that being reflected in the relationship between Jerome and Rashid? Or Rashid and Gerald?
2) Before coming to Chelsea School, Jana teaches at an inner-city school in Cleveland. What in her life brought her to teach at that school and what did she learn? What do you think of her choice to leave?
3) Jana compares Rashid to Jason, the student she was close to in Cleveland. How do you feel about her self-assumed role as savior to these inner-city students?
4) Control is an important theme for Jerome and Rashid and, to a lesser extent, Jana. How do the three characters approach the role of control in their lives? How does control or the need to be in control of their lives bring them together or separate them?
5) Prior to his brief romance with Jana, Jerome has had very little involvement with women. How does this strike you as a reader? Does this make you more sympathetic to Jerome’s position? Does it make it easier or harder to understand his relationship with Jana?
6) Jerome and Rashid are tied by their involvement with cross-country running. When Rashid injures his leg and is unable to run cross-country, he severs that tie. In what way does this precipitate the events that follow? How do you think Jerome or Rashid might have effected a different outcome?
7) Both Jerome and Rashid’s brothers were killed, though the deaths affect each of them very differently. How are you moved as a reader by these reactions?
8) In Rashid’s speech to the student body, he says in comparing his neighborhood to Chelsea “Your prison is fancieryou’ve got the cars, you’ve got the cash, but not wanting to hear anything that’s gonna make you think? That’s the same.” Do you agree or disagree with this statement? What do you think would make Rashid feel this way? How do you feel about this statement in relation to your own life?
©Martha Southgate 2001
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