The Year We Disappeared

The story uses an alias for Raymond Meyer, a strategy John initially disagrees with. He wants to use Meyer’s real name, to expose the truth, but Cylin doesn’t want to revisit the name or give it power. Consider the motivations behind each. How might using Meyer’s real name confer power to John, and how might using an alias confer power to Cylin?

Prior to the shooting, the Busby children take their freedom for granted (they play in the cemetery adjacent to their house, they visit their neighborhood friends without asking permission). How does the loss of that freedom impact them? How does it impact John and Polly?

How is memory crucial to the story and to the family’s survival, both physically and emotionally?

With the help of therapy and his family, John overcomes his anger and his desire for vengeance. While he never forgives Meyer, he eventually prioritizes his family over his assailant. What aspects of John’s personality make this such a difficult journey for him? Would the journey have been easier for a different kind of person?

John describes police work as a brotherhood in which loyalty is the highest virtue and betrayal the greatest transgression. What are the advantages of this kind of fraternal relationship? How can it also impede honest and impartial law enforcement?

John and Don Price agree that teaching the boys to handle guns is a necessary precaution, and yet John nearly succumbs to paranoia and anxiety, drawing his service revolver when he sees an unfamiliar face among the security detail. Gauge the boys’ level of comfort with this new responsibility. How does the gun culture, both in the Busby household and in society, make this seem like a reasonable strategy?

John is forced to confront a loss of traditional male identity (strength, courage, ego). How does his old identity manifest itself? How do those manifestations help his recovery and also hinder it?

For much of the narrative, John wants justice, and when it seems like none is forthcoming, he resolves to pursue it himself. Consider the notion of justice as American society views and implements it. Meyer eventually was incarcerated in a state hospital where he died. What is John’s idea of justice, and how does this outcome conflict or converge with it?