1. When Thomas Witka comes home from Vietnam, he is no longer connected to the people in his tribe. One of the themes in People of the Whale is the significance of tradition, the glue that holds a community together over time. Why might Thomas Witka initially seek reunion, not with Ruth and Marco, but with the whale?
2. The A’atsika men who endeavor to end the moratorium on whale hunting suggest to their tribespeople that hunting whales “will bring us back to ourselves.” Why does Ruth reject this argument?
3. According to A’atsika tradition, when one whale is killed, its spirit is reborn in another whale. Is this traditional notion of “deathlessness” reinforced by Dwight and Dimitri? Can you sympathize with their point of view? Is their argument valid? Why or why not?
4. Discuss the parallels between Thomas Witka’s Vietnam experience and his participation in the whale hunt. How are his psychic wounds affected by the killing of the whale?
5. Linda Hogan borrows from Native American knowledge systems, stories, and myth to tell this provocative story of a man’s falling away from and painful reconnection with his family, his tribe, and his history. Why do you suppose she blends myth and history with present-day Western notions of reality in her writing?
6. After Marco’s disappearance and the killing of the whale, an old man tells Ruth that a drought will come. “A wrong thing was done,” he says. “Maybe more than one wrong thing…. Get ready for it. N’a sina.” Native American lifeways, like those of other peoples, include sacred narratives and conventional wisdom. Consider the importance of the old man’s words. Do you see his memory of the past as a particularly Native American attitude?
7. Ruth was born with gills. Marco was born with webbed feet. Animals figure prominently in the A’atsika people’s environment, daily reality, and collective imagination. Analyze how animal symbolism fits into the past and present in Native cultures.
8. When drought comes, as the old man prophesied, Ruth senses that the sea is holding its breath, waiting for something. What does Ruth have in mind? How might the elders of her tribe elaborate upon this notion?
9. People of the Whale is concerned with loyalty to and betrayal of the natural world. Discuss how Thomas Witka’s relationship with his two children, Marco and Lin, also illustrates the breaking of a sacred trust and the painful moral choices humans make. Does Lin’s meeting with Thomas and Ruth offer new hope?
10. Linda Hogan ultimately offers a striking portrait of what it is to be a modern American Indian. Her narrative plumbs the difficulties of upholding tradition in the face of modern demands. What messages do think Hogan intends to transmit through her storytelling? Discuss the relevance of these ideas in your own community.

PRAISE FOR THE WOMAN WHO WATCHES OVER THE WORLD

“This wise and compassionate offering deserves to be widely reviewed and read.”

—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Transcendent and cathartic, Hogan’s indelible narrative ultimately celebrates love, the ‘mighty force’ that enables even the most harrowed not only to endure but to grow in spirit and wisdom.”