Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for Extraordinary, Ordinary People:
1. Discuss the Jim Crow environment of Birmingham, Alabama, where Rice was born. What were the roadblocks thrown in the way of African-Americans? If you've read The Help, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, The Warmth of Other Suns, or The Dry Grass of August, how does Rice's memoir of that era compare with those books' accounts?
2. Talk about the environment that Rice's parents created for her, the ways in which they protected her from the worst excesses of Jim Crow. How did they encourage, inspire, and shape her life to become the accomplished woman she is today?
3. Rice's parents, she writes, held to the maxim that their daughter should be "twice as good" as any white people with whom she would eventually compete. "This was declared as a matter of fact, not a point for debate," she writes. Is she right—that during the 1960s-80's blacks needed to out perform whites in order to succeed? Is it true today?
4. Rice's IQ measures 136. Do you believe her own natural gifts would have allowed her to rise to the top despite parental influence? In other words, what is at stake here—nature or nurture?
5. At a time when society is concerned about over-scheduling childhood activities, Rice's childhood routine is breathtaking: up at 4:30 a.m for skating, school at 7:00, piano and more skating after school, and bedtime at 9:30. Do Rice's later accomplishments lend credence to the idea that a highly structured childhood—and its resulting discipline—leads to a lifetime of success?
6. As a child, Rich received her share of insults and exclusion. She writes that she developed a "retaliatory impulse." What does she mean—why "retaliatory"? What incidences created that impulse? Has that impulse been significant in shaping Rice's stellar career?
7. What about the political beliefs of Rice's father, John Wesley Rice? Talk about his support of the 2nd Amendment, his affiliation with the Republican Party, his decision not to march with the Rev. Martin Luther King in 1963, and his unlikely friendship with Black Panther leader Stokely Carmichael? How unusual were those beliefs for his era, his class, his race? What does Condoleezza mean when she writes that her father liked "the contestation of ideas"?
8. Rice, herself, is a Republican—an unusual affiliation for most, or at least many, African-Americans. She explains that she would rather be ignored by Republicans than patronized by Democrats. What does she mean?
9. In what way does Rice support affirmative action? How is her support similar to, or different from, other Republicans...Democrats...or African-Americans?
10. Talk about Rice's philosophy, which she says was taught to her: "there are no excuses and there is no place for victims." Do you agree or disagree?
11. How much of her inner-life does Condoleezza Rice share with her readers? New York Times reviewer, Dwight Garner, wrote that her book "is not especially reflective. Her energy is directed out, not in." Do you agree—or disagree—with his observation? Does she go deep enough for you, would you have liked more personal reflection? Or is that not the purpose of her memoir?
12. Talk about the role that mentors play in Rice's rise. Talk about mentors in general—have you had a mentor, someone who has guided you through the labyrinth of life, school, or career? How important are mentors?
13. Have you come away from this book feeling differently about Condoleezza Rice? Did it change—or affirm—the way you view her? Do you feel the book enlightens you about who Condoleezza is as a person, not just as a title or position?
14. What about this book surprised you? What did you learn?
15. What does the future hold for Condoleezza Rice? Do you see her re-entering the arena of politics and government? Could she have a future as a possible candidate for national office?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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