Red at the Bone

Consider your previous knowledge of the Tulsa Race Massacre—often misremembered as the Tulsa Race Riot—and describe how the novel’s dealing with this tragedy enriched your understanding of it.

Consider the significance of the novel’s major settings: the house in Brooklyn, Aubrey’s childhood home, and Iris’s college. Choose one setting and explain how Woodson supports the thematic and narrative goals of the text with it. 

Describe whether Melody’s relationship to her mother changes by the end of the book. How does it relate to the other mother-daughter relationships shown?

Compare Aubrey’s relationship to his mother with Iris’s to her own. What role does gender and class play in their respective relationships?

Woodson quotes a brief conversation between “two old men” at the beginning of the novel. Why do you think she chose to include an anonymous conversation rather than a well-known quote? What do you believe it represents?

How does the class divide between Iris and Aubrey manifest in their relationship? How does it affect how they feel about themselves and each other?

The very first line of the book is about music. How does this set the tone for the role music will play in the narrative? Pick a scene in which music is the focus and analyze its position in the overall narrative. How does it underscore other themes? 

What purpose does Woodson’s inclusion of 9/11 serve regarding the book’s examination of trauma? What can be said about the individual and national traumatic responses to 9/11 that is similar to that of the Tulsa Massacre? What is different?