Truth and Bright Water

For Tecumseh, much of Monroe’s artwork is arcane. One of Monroe’s more peculiar installations features a kite painted blue and titled “Teaching the Sky About Blue” and a platform painted green called “Teaching the Grass About Green” (43; 49). How do these installations fit in with the overall project of Monroe’s art?

King’s engagement with oral storytelling traditions results in many shorter chapters that punctuate the main narrative and give information about the history of Truth and Bright Water and the people in it (for example, Chapters 5 and 19). Choose one of these “interlude” chapters and discuss its placement in the arc of the novel. Why does it appear here? How would it change the novel if it appeared elsewhere?

Choose one unfinished conversation and discuss its different possible subtexts. What does King gain by leaving so much unsaid?

Many of the characters in this novel are artists of some kind. Monroe is a visual artist, Tecumseh’s mother is an actress, Elvin makes figurines, and even Tecumseh dabbles in music. What commentary is the novel creating about the uses of art? How do different characters perceive and use art in their lives?

For all that this novel is a serious and at times melancholic examination of a young boy’s coming of age, it is also full of moments of levity (such as the story Tecumseh’s mother tells about exchanging her dress with Cassie in the restroom). Choose a comedic moment in this novel. What purpose does comedy serve at that point in the narrative, and overall?

Rebecca is one of the novel’s most mysterious characters. What is Rebecca’s role in this story? Why does her presence in this narrative feel so unresolved, and what is gained by this lack of resolution?

King chooses to reference the Snow White fairy tale throughout the novel. How is the Snow White narrative in conversation with this text?

The double death of Lum and Solider marks the climax of the novel. What is the significance of both of these characters dying simultaneously? How would the novel be different if one (or both) had survived?