She Would Be King (Moore) - Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for SHE WOULD BE KING … then take off on your own:

1. Of the three main characters, do you have a favorite—one you admire more than the others or find more sympathetic? Talk about the way all three empower themselves. Overall, what does this book have to say about self-empowerment and the human spirit?

2. Wayetu Moore makes use of magical realism in her telling of Liberia's history. What does that fantastical approach—superpowers for her three main characters and the wind as narrator—bring to her story?

3. Do you consider the powers given to Gbessa, June Dey, and Norman Aragon as gifts …or curses …or both?

4. Talk about the way in which the novel deals with slave trade, especially the atrocities at the hands of the French. Were you aware of this part of history?

5. Discuss the racism toward native Liberians which arose during the country's formation. Was it inadvertent? Was it unavoidable—simply part and parcel to our basic human nature? Or was the racism a result of something else entirely?

6. One of the questions posed by She Would Be King is the degree to which past events are responsible for our actions in the present. Can the evil things that were done to us—cruelty and injustice we were once subjected to—explain, even excuse, our present deeds?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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