15. Maggie tackles the nature of loss. In chapter twenty-nine, Dylan notices the utter emptiness in Maggie's eyes: "Something had severed.... When she looked at me, she was looking at the world beyond me where her dreams once lived." He then asks, "What can heal the human soul?" Have you ever experienced loss this deep? What do you think can heal the human soul? Do Maggie and Dylan ever heal?
16. Discuss the theme of forgiveness in the novel. Who forgives whom? What does Pastor John say about forgiveness in particular?
17. Children and childhood are themes in Maggie. What particular meaning does the novel ascribe to them? Why is it significant that a boy in Spiderman pajamas with a plastic squirt gun tells Dylan that the convicts left with a canoe?
18. Integrity-keeping your word and telling the truth-are important character traits to Dylan. How are these traits exhibited-or not exhibited-in the novel? What significance do the following words from Dylan's grandfather have in the story: "There's just one problem with pulling the wool over someone's eyes. And it surfaces whenever they take it off."
19. The novel mentions the "fight of good versus evil." What does this battle look like in the story, and what meaning does it have?
20. Dylan and Amos discuss the need to protect their wives from the former convicts, and Dylan is troubled that he cannot protect his wife from the emotional pain that "threatened to kill her." Which threat do you think affects Dylan the most, and why? What do these suggest about the differences between melt and women, if anything?
21. Just as in The Dead Don't Dance, blood is a recurring motif in Maggie. Name the references to blood and discuss their relevance. The concluding reference occurs when Maggie begins her cycle. What kind of future do you envision for Maggie and Dylan? For Amos, Amanda, Little Dylan, and their coming baby?
CHARLES MARTIN'S novels, including the ECPA Novel of the Year When Crickets Cry and the Christy-award winning novel Chasing Fireflies, have been acclaimed by reviewers and readers alike. He lives a stone's throw from the St. John's River with his wife and their three boys.
Charles Martin, Down Where My Love Lives
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