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READING GROUP QUESTIONS
The following questions may be helpful in prompting discussion among reading group members who wish to consider Donald Lystra’s novel Season of Water and Ice.
(Note: These questions can be copied and pasted into a word processing document.)
1. Near the beginning of Chapter Two (pg. 21) the narrator, Danny DeWitt, says: “It was…an odd time for me: a time of watching and waiting….I was trying to hold myself apart…, to stand at the side until I knew which thoughts or feelings were the right ones to have….” Do you think “standing to the side of things” is normal adolescent behavior or is Danny unusual in this respect?
2. At several points in the story Danny’s father tries to explain his decision to leave a safe corporate job to move north and begin a risky career as a salesman. Do you think it’s clear what he is after? Do you think he understands what he is trying to accomplish? In general, how well do people understand the motives for the things they do?
3. The 1950s are often regarded as a period of tranquility and social conformity. Do the characters of the novel act according to this stereotype? Is there any evidence in the story of the great social upheavals that were to come in the 1960s? Is there evidence of what caused those social upheavals?
4. At one point (pg. 36) Danny observes that his father could “sometimes use words to keep the truth away, rather than to bring it closer.” Do you agree with Danny’s assessment of his father? If so, give some examples. Do you think by the end of the book he has changed in this regard? Do you think there was something about the 1950s that made people want to deceive themselves about the true nature of things?
5. Near the beginning of the novel (pg. 43) Danny tells Amber that God must be logical because “logic’s the same thing as being true.” Discuss what Danny means by this statement and how it illustrates his personality. Do you think Danny would say the same thing by the end of the novel?
6. Throughout the novel Danny has a very conflicted attitude about his mother. Discuss how Danny’s opinion of her changes throughout the novel? In particular, how is Danny affected when he visits her in Chicago? Does he love her more or less after this? Does he understand her better? Does he think she will return?
7. The concept of fear plays a significant role in this book; and on several occasions Danny speaks quite openly about the fear he feels. List some of the things Danny is fearful of and discuss for each whether his fear is justified or exaggerated. In general, is adolescence a time when a person is fearful about the world? Does the social climate of the 1950s have anything to do with the fear Danny experiences?
8. At the end of Chapter Six (pgs. 68-70) Danny is both fascinated and horrified when he considers the death of Harriet Walker’s boyfriend in battle. At one point (pg. 68) he observes: “There are different ways of losing people. There is death, and there is leaving, and there is the loss of the love you once felt for someone.” What is Danny thinking about when he speaks these words? Is he thinking of his own situation or of Harriet Walker’s? Do Danny’s feelings about losing love have anything to do with the attraction he feels for Harriet Walker? For Amber?
9. At several points in the story Danny speaks about the “special love” or the “half-love” he and Amber have for one another, and on page 197 he speculates that theirs “may be a better type of love than normal love…because it didn’t have anything else attached to it, not sex or jealousy or the fear of being left behind.” What’s Danny getting at here? Can a boy and girl have the kind of half-love of which Danny speaks? Can it be “a better sort of love than normal love,” as Danny speculates?
10. In his 1950 Nobel Prize acceptance speech William Faulkner said that the tragedy of the nuclear age was “a general and universal physical fear so long sustained by now that we can even bear it.” Is there any evidence of this new type of fear in the incidents of Season of Water and Ice? Does Danny feel it? How does it affect Danny’s perception of the world as a frightening and unpredictable place?
11. Think about the title and consider the scene on page 231 where Danny uses the phrase “water and ice” to describe the frozen membrane that is forming on the surface of the lake. Does the phrase have application to Danny’s life? Does it have application to the events he is confronting at that particular moment? Does his response to the seeming-impossibility of what he’s observing reflect anything about his personality?
12. Think about the relationship that starts to develop between Harriet Walker and Danny’s father. What is each of them after in this relationship? Under other circumstances could the relationship have developed further? Is Harriet Walker a sympathetic or unsympathetic character?
13. Danny is shocked when he learns that his mother's friend, Robert Henry, is a homosexual. Discuss the several reasons why he would have been shocked to learn this about his mother’s friend. Discuss the reasons why Danny’s mother might have been drawn to Robert Henry as a friend.
14. On page 142 Danny speculates about how parts of his life are always being destroyed and replaced by “another life.” Do you think this is a correct perception of Danny’s life or of life in general? Is a person’s life a continual accumulation of experiences or is it a succession of separate distinct phases?
15. In Chapter 18 Danny’s father tells him that a person needs to have standards before he can make choices, and Danny seems to take this advice to heart. But then, on page 222, he states “I realized that what a person did and what a person had to do were all mixed up together, and it was impossible to know how you would act in any situation until you actually faced it.” Discuss the differences between these two ideas as they relate to human behavior. Discuss the differences as they relate to the 1950s and the social changes that came in the next decade. Are the two ideas contradictory? What do you think is Danny’s final decision on the matter?
16. The concept of love, and Danny’s struggle to understand what love is all about, play an important role in this novel. Consider Danny’s relationship with the female characters of the story: his mother, Amber, Harriet Walker, Charlene. In what ways does Danny’s relationship with these women differ? Are they examples of different types of relationships that occur in every person’s life? Are they examples of different types of love?
17. Central to the story is Amber’s uncertain feelings about her boyfriend Wayne, and whether they will be married. Consider the forces at play in Amber’s life and why she would have ambivalent feelings about Wayne. Does Danny have anything to do with her ambivalent feelings? Is it realistic that a pregnant teenage girl with no resources would be reluctant to marry her boyfriend?
18. At the end of the book (pg. 249), Danny speaks about the “terrible anger I felt for Amber and for myself.” What is he referring to here? Is the anger justified? In particular, should Danny feel personally responsible for what has happened?
19. By the end of the book Danny’s father seems to have come to a different understanding about his own life and where he is headed. Do you think this new understanding has anything to do with Danny’s experience? Should Danny’s father feel responsible for anything that has happened? |
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