Let Us Descend Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, Free People of Color and Their Roles in the American Slave Trade and our BookBrowse Review of Let Us Descend.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. Annis describes her mother as "a woman who hides a tender heart" (page 4). Name a few moments when Mama reveals her tenderness. How does she conceal her "tender heart" and, in your opinion, what is she protecting by hiding it?
2. Turn to page 6. Read from "I take care to hide ..." to the text break on page 9 ("Queens."). Bees appear as a motif throughout the novel. According to this passage, what might bees symbolize in Let Us Descend?
3. On page 33, Annis listens through the door as her half-sisters are taught a passage from Dante's Inferno. Dante's Inferno is a literary antecedent for this book—just as Annis is accompanied on her walk south by Aza, Dante was lead through the nine circles of Hell by the spirit of Virgil. Chart Annis's journey from the Carolinas to New Orleans. Can you identify any "circles of Hell" she might have waded through? What distinguishes one from another? How did Ward's allusions to Inferno impact your reading of the novel? 

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