Discussion Points for
Readers of The Buffalo Soldier
The Writer & His Craft
•How does the title of the novel, The Buffalo Soldier, relate to the story told in the novel?
• Author Chris Bohjalian includes an epigraph in the form of lyrics from Bob Marley’s song “Buffalo Soldier” that read: “If you know your history / Then you would know where you coming from.” How do these words serve as an introduction to the novel? How do they foreshadow the narrative to come?
• How does the book’s Prologue set up the cultural and geographical setting of the book? How is a sense of place established?
• How is the novel structured?
• What are the advantages of hearing the story told from several different points of view?
• How does devoting different sections of the narrative to the experience of each main character create a richer experience?
• How does experiencing the voice of a third-person narrator throughout the book differ from that of using a first-person narrator for each character? Do you respond to each character differently through this objective voice than you would if their experience was presented in first person?
• How do the chapter titles function as illustrative or explanatory?
• What purpose do the passages from the nineteenth-century documents about the buffalo soldiers serve?
• There are several passages that outline the “rules” established by Sergeant Rowe that the men of the tenth regiment had to live by. Explore what particular meaning the rules that the author included may have for the characters or the plot and how they relate to the narrative of the novel.
• What role does the setting of the novel in Cornish (a small, rural New England town) play?
• Bohjalian has referred to his novels as “domestic dramas,” saying, “I write about ordinary people in what I hope are extraordinary circumstances.” How are the characters in The Buffalo Soldier ordinary and the circumstances extraordinary?
• Bohjalian has been called an “issues novelist” since his books explore the worlds of people involved in such activities as midwifery, animal rights activism and homeopathy. How does The Buffalo Soldier fit within this characterization? What other novelists might fall into this category?
• What portions or aspects of the writing did you find most artful and/or enjoyable to read?
Characters and Motivation
• Who is the main character/protagonist in the novel? Who is the Buffalo Soldier of the title?
• How are the characters of Hillary and Megan revealed through the course of the novel?
• Explore the relationships within the Sheldon family before the girls’ deaths. How would you characterize the relationship between Terry and Laura before the girl’s deaths? How does their marriage change after their loss?
• Discuss the different ways people in the story deal with their own grief. For example, in what different ways do Terry and Laura deal with the loss of their daughters? What other ways might people handle these emotions?
• How do the different careers of Terry (as a state trooper) and Laura (who works at an animal shelter) reflect their personalities? In what ways might these also reflect on their responses to Alfred (e.g., the seminal confrontation between Terry and Alfred)?
• How are children portrayed in the novel? Are their thoughts and actions believable?
• How do we first see Alfred? In what specific ways is his alienation portrayed?
• In what specific ways throughout the novel is Alfred’s character (and his emotional life) explicated by the author?
• In what ways does the loss of her daughters affect the way Laura deals with Alfred’s normal childhood behaviors and experiences?
• How does Alfred react to knowing of, but not about, the twins’ deaths? In what different ways does he acknowledge their lives and their deaths?
• In what ways are Alfred’s actions and feelings misconstrued by others?
• How do Alfred’s prior experiences as a foster child affect how he deals with his peers at school and with Terry and Laura?
• How do the complicated issues surrounding race affect trust and other aspects of the characters’ relationships?
• Why does Terry turn to having an affair with Phoebe?
• Why does Phoebe engage in an affair with Terry even though she recognizes the complications of doing so from their first encounter?
• How does Terry’s view of Alfred change over the course of the novel?
• How does the way in which Alfred speaks and thinks about Terry and Laura change as his relationship with each of them changes?
• How does Laura change through the novel, both as a partner to Terry and a maternal figure?
• How do the different characters understand and experience the concept of “home”?
• How are different types of “family” portrayed and understood?
• What role do the Heberts play in the Sheldon family’s story?
• How is the friendship between Alfred and Paul characterized? In what ways is Paul able to communicate with Alfred that the Sheldons are not?
• How do the accidents both Phoebe and Terry have during the storm affect their respective outlooks on a potential future together?
• How might Phoebe’s decision at the end of the book cast a different light on her earlier motivations?
Plot
• As Terry’s relationship with Phoebe becomes more complicated, how do Laura’s feelings for Alfred change?
• How do other characters react to the increasing emotional distance between Terry and Laura?
• How does the saga of the Buffalo Soldiers comment on or parallel Alfred’s experience? How does he change after reading the book about the soldiers? Is he the Buffalo Soldier of the title?
• What purpose does the saga serve in revealing characters or plot?
• How does Paul’s purchase of a horse alter the course of the story?
• Why does the author include so many detailed episodes from Terry’s work experience? What purpose does each of these narratives serve?
• The book begins (in the Prologue) with the flood that takes the lives of the Sheldon twins and ends with another flood that again changes the dynamics of the Sheldon family. How do each of these disasters alter the different relationships affected by them?
Issues and Themes
• What does the novel reveal about the process of coming to terms with great loss?
• What makes this story so compelling? What is it about tragedy and loss that attracts our interest?
• How does the landscape of Vermont interact with the human characters and vice versa?
• How does the landscape affect the reader’s perception of the family’s situation?
• How are various senses of isolation (as experienced by the different characters) portrayed?
• How do the Sheldons address the issue of racism in the town and its affect on Alfred?
• How is the foster care system portrayed in the novel? What varied stories do we learn about Alfred’s foster families and the friends he makes in the system? How do those experiences affect his relationship with the Sheldons?
• Although the novel takes place in a rural community, much of the narrative centers around driving and roads. What is the function of vehicles in the book?
• How is the issue of familial love addressed throughout the book, in both large and small ways?
• One reviewer referred to the “beautifully observed domestic psychology” of The Buffalo Soldier. What does this mean in terms of this narrative? What other books might fall into the category of “domestic psychologies”?
Speculative Questions
• What do you think Bohjalian’s motivations were in writing this novel?
• Would this story affect parents of older children, or grown children, differently than those with younger children? Why?
• Could the Sheldons have addressed the issue of racism in the town and its affect on Alfred’s experience more directly?
• Does Laura know that Phoebe is pregnant? Would she approve of Terry abdicating his paternal responsibilities to Phoebe’s child? What would happen if Laura did not know? Would it be a set-up for more conflict down the line?
• We do not see Terry interact with Alfred or Laura after the accident. Are we sure they will, individually and as a family, be better off with Terry back in the home? Will Terry, Laura and Alfred come together as a family?