Keeping+Faith

During our Contemporary Fiction unit at the end of the year, we will be reading novels and writing responses to various prompts developed from quotes from the text.

**// You may choose to write a fictional, biographical, or autobiographical narrative, essay, or poem. //**

**// If you are not engaged by any prompt in particular, you are permitted to respond to another quote that may have leapt off the page to you or to reflect on something personal. There are some quotes without prompts; feel free to respond to them if you so desire. //****// If you find yourself uninspired by any of the prompts and are unable to find a quote or topic about which to write on your own, you are welcome to go back to a previous section's prompts/quotes and choose from there as well. The goal is to write in response to some motif, theme, or emotion from your experience with the text. //** Chapters 2 and 3 Chapters 4 and 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapters 9 and 10 Chapters 11 and 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapters 15 and 16 Chapters 17 and 18
 * Prologue and Chapter 1: **
 * Ø “I often imagine my life like a September loose-leaf binder – neatly slotted and tabbed, with everything still in place.” (p. 1)
 * Ø “A heavy August rain throbs against the windows.” (p. 2) Write a story that begins with this line.
 * Ø “The farmhouse itself is full of opposites that still attract.” (p. 6) There is an old adage that opposites attract. Write about a relationship (romantic or platonic) you have or have had with someone who is your opposite.
 * Ø “Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth/ Unseen, both when we wake and when we sleep.” (p. 11) Do you believe in spirits? Write a story in which a spirit is the speaker.
 * Ø “I let hope sneak through the cracks in my armor.” (p. 12)
 * Ø “You convince yourself that if you keep perfectly still, if you don’t make any sudden moves, neither will anyone else.” (p. 13)
 * Ø “Faith is going to get you through this.” (p. 13)
 * Ø Millie tells Mariah to “act like a normal woman, and before you know it, you won’t be acting anymore.” (p. 17) How much of our inner feeling is based on our actions? Write about a time when your interior was at odds with your exterior.
 * Ø “raising a child is always a work in progress.” (p. 18)
 * Ø Millie told Mariah that “when push comes to shove, you always know who to turn to. That being a family isn’t a social construct, but an instinct.” (p. 19)
 * Ø Millie tells Mariah that “just because other parents roll with the punches doesn’t mean it’s right. The ones who are most nervous about screwing up are the same ones who care enough to want things to be perfect.” (p. 25)
 * Ø In the novel, Ian publishes a book titled //God Who?//, a book very similar to some recent publications in reality, such as //The God Delusion//. Write a story in which the main character struggles with doubt.
 * Ø “One thing he has learned about young children: To them, adults are interchangeable” (p. 30)
 * Ø “She knows that truth can cause a sharp pain behind your eyes and that love sometimes feels like a fist around your throat.” (p. 31) People say that the truth hurts, but is it so with love?
 * Ø “Sometimes there are conversations with big, fat, white spaces.” (p. 31)
 * Ø “They…can speak without saying a thing, because they know each other so well.” (p. 31) Write about the person in your life with whom you can converse without words.
 * Ø “The whole event has a color about it, like the scribbles of a crayon gone crazy off the page.” (p. 32)
 * Ø “She wonders why he calls her only by the names of food.” (p. 32)
 * Ø Ian says, “Perception is a very powerful thing.” (p. 45)
 * Ø “The mind is its own place, and in itself/ Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.” (p. 52)
 * Ø “My guard says everyone has things to teach people.” (p. 53) Is this true? Write about what you have to teach or write about a time when someone taught you something (outside of a classroom).
 * Ø “Suddenly she draws a sharp breath.” (p. 54) Write a story that ends with this line.
 * Ø “God’s not a four letter word, Ma.” “Still, it might as well be.” (p. 56)
 * Ø “Suddenly my heart feels too big for my chest.” (p. 57)
 * Ø “Maybe you edit your history, so that the stories you tell yourself become legend, so that accidents never happened.” (p. 57) Memory has a way of changing the truth of history. Write a poem about memory.
 * Ø According to the rabbi, being a Jew is “like being part of a family. You have to screw up pretty badly to get kicked out.” (p. 63)
 * Ø “There lives more faith in honest doubt,/ Believe me, than in half the creeds.” (p. 66) Write an essay about the power of doubt.
 * Ø “He can hear the thread of delight wrapped around her voice.” (p. 67) Write about a person who brings delight into your voice.
 * Ø “It felt like being on the hill of the roller coaster, going down.” (p. 85) Write a story about a memory that begins with this line.
 * Ø James tells Ian, “I actually used to like camping, as a kid. Didn’t you ever do that?” (p. 86) Write about an activity you did when you were young, but tell it from the age you were when you did it.
 * Ø Mariah tells her mother, “there are no such things as vibes.” (p. 89)
 * Ø Mariah questions if Ian has a “television persona” and a “private one.” (p. 89) Many people have multiple faces, one for each audience they have to face. Write a poem about the masks we wear.
 * Ø Millie tells Mariah, “Fathers always want you to measure up to something. Mothers are the ones who love you unconditionally, don’t you think?” (p. 91) There seems to be a dichotomy in the way the different genders parent. Create a conversation between a father and a mother, without labeling the lines.
 * Ø “Circumstances can turn you into someone you’ve never been before.” (pp. 91-92)
 * Ø Rabbi Solomon believes that should God appear to man in the flesh, He would focus on “how man is treating man. Divorce, child abuse, alcoholism. Social ills. That’s what He’d want fixed.” (p. 98) Do you agree with him? Write a story in which the protagonist meets God. What would S/He look like? Say?
 * Ø According to Rabbi Solomon, in Kabbalah, “the female part [of God], the //Shekinah//, is the presence of God.” (p. 100) Why would the female part be the presence? How does that compare to the nature and nurture of girls in contemporary society?
 * Ø “Mariah wonders… why a religion that prides itself on being open-minded makes you jump through hoops.” (p. 100)
 * Ø Mariah tells Ian, “Sometimes you can see things happen right in front of your eyes and still jump to the wrong conclusions.” (p. 115)
 * Ø “Ian smiles at her, scattering all her thoughts.” (p. 116) Write about the person whose smile scatters your thoughts.
 * Ø “All hell broke loose.” (p. 117) Write a story that begins with this line.
 * Ø Father MacReady says he “never believed that spirit comes from religion. It comes from deep inside each of us; it draws people to us.” (p. 126) Write a poem in which you explore the nature of “spirit” as you define it
 * Ø After his wedding, Colin thinks, “there is so much he needs to do to settle his previous life before forging ahead with this new one.” (p. 131) Is it possible to create a new life? If so, what does that say about the experiences in the “previous life”?
 * Ø “A tornado starts at the pit of my belly.” (p. 142) Write a story that ends with this line.
 * Ø “What’s worse… The devil you don’t know… or the devil you do?” (p. 155)
 * Ø Faith gets frustrated with her mom for being unable to tell the story of Little Red Riding Hood when they are in Kansas City. What was your favorite bedtime story as a child? Write a descriptive vignette from your childhood bedtime routine. Make your audience feel, see, hear, smell, and taste the room and experience.
 * Ø “It’s crisp and cool outside, and the sun is hanging heavy in the sky.” (p. 172) Write a poem using all of the words in this sentence.
 * Ø “There’s something different. Like the air is easier to take into your lungs.” (p. 178)
 * Ø “It is the kind of moon” that makes “your blood beat thick and your head spin to a song played on bare branches and marsh reeds.” (p. 186) Write a story based on this imagery.
 * Ø “He can read Mariah’s heart in her eyes.” (p. 187) They say that the eyes are the windows to the soul. Look into a mirror and stare into your own eyes for several moments. Write about what you see.
 * Ø Ian tells Mariah, “I don’t think we get a choice in who we fall for… I think we just do.” (p. 195)
 * Ø “A thousand thoughts run through my mind.” (p. 200) Write a story that ends with this line.
 * Ø “Colin was interested in what he could make me [Mariah] into, instead of what I already was.” (pp. 200-201)
 * Ø “Falling in love has little to do with wanting someone. It is much more enticing to me to be wanted.” (p. 202)
 * Ø “But to say God is visiting her in a clearly female form… certainly it is heresy.” (p. 204) Many religions question the divinity of the female form. Why do you think that is?
 * Ø “I do believe Faith can heal.” (p. 206)
 * Ø “The music, however, is too big for the room, and often spills into the hall or through the walls.” (p. 207) Write a story that uses this line to describe the atmosphere.
 * Ø Millie comments that Colin is “a Svengali when it comes” to Mariah’s mind. (p. 223)
 * Ø “How hard was the fall?” (p. 224) Write about the first person you “fell” for.
 * Ø “You acquire a sixth sense when it comes to your children – viscerally feeling their joy, their frustration, and the sharp blow to the heart when someone cause them pain.” (p. 224)
 * Ø “There’s a theory that the earliest roots for God are tied to an infant looking up at his mother and knowing that it’s okay to close his eyes and imagine her, because when he opens his eyes she’ll still be there.” (p. 243) If this is a theory, why is it that many religions cast women as tainted or unfit to serve as clergy?
 * Ø “Smiling so hard, he thinks his face might split.” (p. 244) Write about the person who makes you smile as such.
 * Ø “Self-defense, by definition, involves putting oneself on the line.” (p. 247)
 * Ø “The truth doesn’t always set you free; people prefer to believe prettier, neatly wrapped lies.” (p. 256) Write about a time when either you or someone you know faced more of a conflict for being honest that you would have had you lied, or write a vignette in which Truth is speaking.
 * Ø “A smile gracing her face.” (p. 258)
 * Ø Mariah compares her love for Colin, “he anchored me,” to her love for Ian, “he takes me away.” (p. 262)
 * Ø After a particularly vague broadcast, Ian thinks, “he wants Mariah to have heard it one way, and James to have heard it the other.” (p. 275)
 * Ø “In the real world, children were often the ones who swept up the messes their parents had left behind.” (p. 277) Is this true? Write a story in which a child has to compensate for his/her parents’ shortcomings.
 * Ø “A rush of warmth reaches through the phone connection.” (p. 281) Write about the person with whom you share your warmth.
 * Ø “There are no words.” (p. 281) It seems that at very significant times in our lives, we cannot find the words to express what we feel. Write a poem about words, or write a piece in which words speak, explaining why they abandon us.
 * Ø Kenzie talks to Millie about the radio broadcast titled //The War of the Worlds//, reminding her that “people hear what they want to hear.” (p. 283) Do some research into that broadcast, then write a story for 2009 that would spread similar fear.
 * Ø Metz remembers the first time he “had used his words to remake a person.” (p. 285)
 * Ø “I would do anything for you.” (p. 292) Write about the person to whom you would say this, or write about the person you would like to say this to you.
 * Ø “I will never be able to figure out what made me say what I say next. It bursts out of me like a belch, and leaves me just as embarrassed.” (p. 296) Write about a time when you said something that embarrassed you. Use imagery to make your audience feel the embarrassment.
 * Ø “//This is love//, I think. A place where people who have been alone may lock together like hawks and spin in the air, dizzy with surprise at the connection. A place you go willingly, and with wonder.” (p. 298)
 * Ø “The creams and pastes and powders that make up a smell I will always associate with” a mom. (p. 301) Write a poem about the scents you associate with members of your family.
 * Ø “Albert cannot tear his eyes away from the woman who has defined him for half a century.” (p. 309)
 * Ø “Love, a well so deep that you could try and try and never know its bottom.” (p. 314)
 * Ø “Wondering if all love – earthly or divine – is certain to hurt.” (p. 322)
 * Ø “I was told never to come between a mama bear and her cub.” (p. 343) When we love unconditionally, we become protective of those we love. Write about a time when you felt compelled to protect someone you love.
 * Ø “I should have told her… If I had told her, she would have forgiven me.” (p. 346) Forgiveness is often easy to speak of but more often difficult to do. Write a poem about forgiveness, or write about a time when you asked to be forgiven.
 * Ø “Once you have experienced pain, it knows your address. It comes to prey upon you in the middle of the night, sneaking up on you when you least expect it and leveling you before you have a chance to fight.” (p. 349) Can the same be said of happiness? Write an essay about your beliefs about karma.
 * Ø “Children are the anchors that hold a mother to life.” (p. 353)
 * Ø “Like the Wizard of Oz, he’s learned that if you hide long enough behind a curtain of bluff and principle, people stop trying to find out who you are in the first place.” (p. 365)
 * Ø “An apology that slipped between my lips like licorice, and tasted just as bitter.” (p. 368) It is difficult to admit when we make mistakes. Write a story about someone facing the daunting task of apology.
 * Ø “Motherhood isn’t a test, but a religion: a covenant entered into, a promise to be kept. It comes one-size-fits-all, and it camouflages flaws like nothing else.” (p. 369) Write a poem about motherhood.
 * Ø Mariah dreams that Faith’s guard comes to her and says, “Did you ever consider that I know what it’s like to lose a child.” (p. 370)
 * Ø “There is no evidence that hours ago the girl was hovering on the edge of death.” (p. 377) Write a story that ends with this line.
 * Ø “There are many ways to look at the same thing.” (p. 379) Write an essay about the power of perception.
 * Ø “Woman’s at best a contradiction still.” (p. 399) Write a story that begins with this line, or create a similar line about Man and finish the story.
 * Ø “My heart begins to batter in my chest like a lightning bug trapped in a jar.” (p. 400) Write a story that ends with this line.
 * Ø “’I’m her mother.’ The word is a balm; it slides from my lips to my throat to my belly.” (p. 400)
 * Ø “They say that there are moments that open up your life like a walnut cracked, that change your point of view so that you never look at things the same way again.” (p. 403) Have you experienced a moment such as this? Write about it, or write a story about someone else’s moment.
 * Ø “I can feel my daughter’s eyes on me, like the sun that touches the crown of your head when you step outside.” (p. 405) Rewrite this line, substituting someone else in for “my daughter’s” and finish the story.
 * Ø “And if it //is// possible to die of grief… then why on earth can’t someone be healed by happiness?” (p. 413) Write an essay about the healing power of happiness.
 * Ø “You can believe something really hard… and still be wrong.” (p. 415) Belief, or faith, is often not grounded in facts but in interpretation of experiences. Write a poem about faith.
 * Ø “His body is lined with the light of the moon, and the stars fall into place around him.” (p. 421) Write a story that ends with this line.