What do you believe about Sister Eve’s ability to heal? What is the con that Albert is warning Odie about?ħ. However, Albert is skeptical of Sister Eve’s healings, calling her a con. They offered hope to people in desperate times, as Sister Eve does to Odie, Albert, Emmy, and Mose.

Tent revivals-places where Christians would gather to hear religious leaders speak-were common in the Great Depression, often traveling across the country from town to town. The children are unsure whether to trust him or not. He appears friendly and shares a meal with them, but he’s also aware that there is a $500 reward for their capture-a huge amount of money at the time. After having escaped Jack, the vagabonds encounter a Native American man named Forrest. When Odie is working for Jack in his orchard, Jack explain his religious philosophy, saying, 'God all penned up under a roof? I don’t think so.' Where does Jack think God is really to be found? What is it in Odie’s experience that makes him disagree with Jack’s outlook?ĥ. What sense of the current state of the world do you get from this encounter?Ĥ. After Odie lies about getting the money from their father, a second clerk remarks, 'If he got a job these days, he’s one of the lucky ones.' This is Odie and Albert’s first experience of life outside of the Lincoln School. When Odie and Albert attempt to buy boots, the clerk is skeptical that Albert and Odie would be able to afford the $5 price tag. Is Odie the only one struggling with this issue? What sense do you have concerning the way the other vagabonds feel about the nature of God? What about the people they meet on their travels? How does Odie’s relationship with God change over the course of his journey?ģ. Trying to understand the nature of God is one of the many struggles for Odie during his experiences in the summer of 1932. Why do you think the author chose silence as a way of depicting the children at the school?Ģ. The Native character whom readers get to know best is Mose, and he is mute and 'speaks' only through sign language. Although Odie and Albert find themselves in a boarding school for Native American children, most of the Native children don’t actually speak in the story.

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