61 pages • 2 hours read
Richard FlanaganThe Narrow Road to the Deep North
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2013A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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What does the railway represent to the Japanese? What does it represent to the POWs?
What does it mean when the Goanna says he has never had an idea of his own?
Do you believe the author of the novel is a pessimist or an optimist? Cite textual evidence to support your position.
What does Dorrigo mean when he proposes: “A happy man has no past, while an unhappy man has nothing else” (4). Do you agree? Why or why not?
Dorrigo does not consider himself a hero. At the end of the novel, do you believe he is a hero? Use textual evidence to support your position.
Why do you believe Amy and Dorrigo and drawn together so forcefully? Why does their connection not guarantee that they reunite after the war?
Why do you think the author chooses to show the end of Jimmy Bigelow’s life, when he played a relatively minor role in the story?
What role does poetry play in the book?
Nakamura dies thinking that he is a good man. Is he wrong? Why or why not?
What does the circular death poem represent to Dorrigo?
