Prairie Lotus

Mama is not present in the real-time of the story because she died years before, when Hanna was just 11. Mama, however, is a defined and well-developed character in the narrative. How does the author indirectly characterize Mama? What impact on Hanna’s character development does the memory of Mama’s traits and characteristics have? Use the text to support your answers.

Prairie Lotus offers descriptive imagery that helps the reader travel via imagination to the time period. What details in this narrative do you think are most helpful in transporting readers to 1880 Dakota Territory? Choose four or five images and details to list with quoted descriptions. Discuss why you believe each image would appeal to or affect readers.

Think about the events that take place on the prairie, especially what occurs between Hanna and Wichapiwin. What might the two major settings of the real-time story—the town of LaForge and the surrounding prairie—symbolize in terms of Hanna’s conflicts and experiences?

The rising action of a story is made up of escalating events that often involve discoveries and complications. What discoveries and complications occur between the novel’s inciting incident (Hanna’s arrival in LaForge and simultaneous desire to attend school) and its last rising action (Hanna’s worries the night before the shop opening)? How do these complications and discoveries work to advance the plot, or lead from one event to the next?

Though the Indigenous women Hanna encounters (Wichapiwin and the mothers and daughters with her) are Ihanktonwan members, Hanna refers to them (through the narrative’s third-person limited perspective) as “Sioux” because folks living in a town like LaForge would have used that name. What other word or name choices does the author make in representing the time period? Why might a writer elect to include names or words that are currently not used or even intentionally incorrect? What effect might this decision have on readers?

As Hanna readies the new shop, she finds a short length of red ribbon and saves it, thinking she will determine a use for it eventually. Later, she gives the ribbon to Pearl and uses it to tie Pearl’s braids. Why might Hanna do this? How is this moment connected to the other mention of a red ribbon-like length in the narrative (hint: in a memory of Mama)? What might the red ribbon symbolize in terms of what Hanna learns through her conflicts and/or the ways in which she comes of age in the book?

Prairie Lotus offers descriptions of food and drink throughout its chapters: Hanna cooks the meals and cookies for the party; she is intrigued by the timpsina from Wichapiwin; and she recalls the dishes and tea Mama liked and made often. Choose at least three specific meals or food and drink items from the book. What do you think they might symbolize? How is the topic of food used to bridge communication and differences between individuals in the novel?

What traits and behaviors make Papa’s character so complex? Do Papa’s background, experiences, and personal history validate his grumpiness and quick jumps to anger and frustration? What do you think his internal motivations are for his decisions? Support your answers to these questions about Papa with details from the story.