Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight Discussion Questions
IB English III
6 September 2012
Summer Assignment 1. Fuller compares the smell of Africa to "black tea, cut tobacco, fresh fire, old sweat, young grass." She describes, "an explosion of day birds [. . .] a crashing of wings" and "the sound of heat. The grasshoppers and crickets sing and whine. Drying grass crackles. Dogs pant." How effective is the author in drawing the reader into her world with the senses of sound, smell, and taste? Can you find other examples of her ability to evoke a physical and emotional landscape that pulses with life? What else makes her writing style unique?
Alexandra Fuller describes everything in great detail allowing the reader to feel as if the reader is with her while she goes through Africa. One example is, "Snake and Violet settle down for plastic mugs of sweet milky tea and thick slabs of buttery bread...Violet took a bite of her bread and a mouthful of tea and mixed the two together in her mouth. We called this cement mixing, and we were not allowed to do it"(43). This is a great example of how she draws the reader into her world with the sense of taste. Another example of the great detail in which Fuller uses is when the family arrives at the house in the Burma Valley. "It looked like Army Barracks, low to the ground and solid with closed-in windows and a blank stare. The yard, littered with flamboyant pods, was big and bald and red." Her vivid descriptions allow for the reader to thoroughly visualize her experiences and life. 2. Given their dangerous surroundings in Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Zambia and a long streak of what young Bobo describes as "bad, bad luck," why does the Fuller family remain in Africa?
The Fullers stay in Africa because of want and necessity. All throughout the book Alexandra Fuller (also referred to as Bobo or Chookies) expresses her love of the continent through the ways she describes it. For example, on page 14 she describes Africa’s time as ‘kind’ time. She also considers Africa to be living: “It
6 September 2012
Summer Assignment 1. Fuller compares the smell of Africa to "black tea, cut tobacco, fresh fire, old sweat, young grass." She describes, "an explosion of day birds [. . .] a crashing of wings" and "the sound of heat. The grasshoppers and crickets sing and whine. Drying grass crackles. Dogs pant." How effective is the author in drawing the reader into her world with the senses of sound, smell, and taste? Can you find other examples of her ability to evoke a physical and emotional landscape that pulses with life? What else makes her writing style unique?
Alexandra Fuller describes everything in great detail allowing the reader to feel as if the reader is with her while she goes through Africa. One example is, "Snake and Violet settle down for plastic mugs of sweet milky tea and thick slabs of buttery bread...Violet took a bite of her bread and a mouthful of tea and mixed the two together in her mouth. We called this cement mixing, and we were not allowed to do it"(43). This is a great example of how she draws the reader into her world with the sense of taste. Another example of the great detail in which Fuller uses is when the family arrives at the house in the Burma Valley. "It looked like Army Barracks, low to the ground and solid with closed-in windows and a blank stare. The yard, littered with flamboyant pods, was big and bald and red." Her vivid descriptions allow for the reader to thoroughly visualize her experiences and life. 2. Given their dangerous surroundings in Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Zambia and a long streak of what young Bobo describes as "bad, bad luck," why does the Fuller family remain in Africa?
The Fullers stay in Africa because of want and necessity. All throughout the book Alexandra Fuller (also referred to as Bobo or Chookies) expresses her love of the continent through the ways she describes it. For example, on page 14 she describes Africa’s time as ‘kind’ time. She also considers Africa to be living: “It
Cited: 1. Fuller, Alexandra. Don’t Let’s Go to the Dog’s Tonight. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2003. Print.