Reading Guide Questions

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. Which one of the four members of the Pope family do you see as the novel's main character? Why?
   


2. Why do you think Eli goes off in search of his father instead of staying home to help his mother as she asks him to do?
   


3. What role do the actions and words of Two Blood play in the Pope family's unfolding story?
   


4. How does the relationship between Danny and Eli change as the two of them travel west to find their father?
   


5. Which, if any, of the novel's characters seem to have seen through Ulysses's veneer to the man he really is?
   


6. What does Gretta learn about herself in the course of her trials and travels? At what points in the story does she seem most able to tap her own strengths and affect her and her family's future?
   


7. After listening to the startling information that Ulysses has come to tell him, why does Magpie allow Ulysses to simply walk away?
   


8. Why does Eli sneak away from his father and return to Magpie, Bull Bear, and Leathertop's camp? In doing so, what does he accomplish?
   


9. Are there any similarities between the quests of Ulysses Pope and William Hornaday?
   


10. How do you account for Hornaday's simultaneous concern for the plight of the buffalo and lack of concern for the plight of the Native tribes?
    


11. In what ways does Danny manage to change the course of his family's history? How might you explain his apparently renewed health at the story's end?
    


12. To what degree does Ulysses finally experience the catharsis he is seeking with his journey to the West and into his past?
    


13. What does the final chapter suggest about the future of the Pope family? What about the future of the Native tribes? And the future of the bison?

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Algonquin Books. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.