1. What kind of premonitions does Mama Day have about the oncoming storm? What happened to Miranda and Abigail's family in the hurricane of 1920?

2. How do Cocoa and George's versions of the fight differ? Do these differences correspond to gender differences outlined by Tannen or Gilligan?

3. Why is Cocoa particularly sensitive to George's comment about her make-up? How does this sensitivity tie in with her attitudes towards race earlier in the book (especially to Shawn)?

4. How does the fight affect each of them? Who is most willing to forgive?

5. Is the hurricane symbolic? If so, what is it a symbol of? What is Mama Day's relation to the storm? What is the storm's connection to feminine principles and powers?

6. Why does Cocoa have the drowning dream a second time? How do her and George's dreams (cf. pp. 183 ff.) foreshadow the aftermath of the storm?

7. How does Little Caesar's funeral differ from the traditional Christian funerals that George is used to? What does this show us about Willow Springs? What is the attitude towards time embodied by the funeral? How does Little Caesar's death show us the limits of Mama Day's power?

9. What does Ruby do to Cocoa and why?

10. When Mama Day takes revenge on Ruby, does she call on supernatural powers?

11. How do you explain what happens to Cocoa? Can these events be explained naturally/ scientifically/ rationally? Are the worms real? How do you deal with the fact that George sees them?

12. Why does Mama Day need George's help to save Cocoa? How is George tied into the history of pain in Cocoa's family? Why is it so important for Mama Day to remember Sapphira's name? What kind of power does this ancestress represent and how does her life parallel Cocoa's? Why does Mama Day give George the ledger and the cane?

13. What role does George's faith in the spiritual play in his actions? How do you feel about George's death? What do you think George was supposed to find in the chicken coop? Why does George die -- both literally and figuratively (what physically brought on his death; how is his death a part of Cocoa's family history)? Is George a Christ figure?

14. Do you think the novel ends tragically or optimistically?

15. What is the significance of the last sentence of the book?

16. What do you think will happen to Cocoa after Mama Day dies?