QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

Broken Trail

While the novel is, in many ways, a traditional Western, it is also a story of love, as Print Ritter discovers feelings he thought were long buried. Discuss the different levels of love discovered by Print and how this love shows his growth.

When Print and Tom discover the theft by Captain Billy Fender, each immediately takes a different path, one of violence and one of nurturing. Discuss this juxtaposition and what it tells us about the two characters.

The five Chinese girls remain a bit of a mystery throughout much of the novel, obviously dealing with fear, an unknown language, and an uncertain destination. How does this symbolize the American immigrant experience?

Throughout the novel, Print wrestles with painful memories of the Civil War. By the end of the novel, do you feel he has exorcised these memories, and, if so, which relationship helped him the most in doing so?

The author provides a very limited physical description of the characters in the novel, instead describing characters through their words and their deeds. Based on this, how would you describe each of the novel’s characters?

In her words, Nola is halfway down the ladder to a life of misery. Why do you think she trusts Print enough to be intimate with him, both in words and in action, and does this relationship ultimately pull her back to a good life?

There is sense from early in the novel that Ye Fung, Number Four, is destined for a bad fate. Discuss the role that fate and chance play in the lives of the major characters. Are they able to overcome the odds that fate has placed before them?

Do you feel that Print was happy at the end of the novel?

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