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Discussion Questions for Your Group

  1. How is Rick Bragg's newest book, The Prince of Frogtown, similar to his other two books about his family (Pulitzer-prize winning All Over But the Shoutin' and Ava's Man)? How is it different?
  2. Why did Bragg's friend Willie Morris tell him, "You'll never find peace until you write about him (his father). There is no place you can go he will not be?"
  3. Why did the Mill advertise only for workers with families? What did the Mill promise workers that signed on? ("good wages, good working conditions, good housing, electricity, free coal")
  4. With all that the Mill promised it's workers, do you think this would be a good life? What sacrifices did the workers make to incur the "privileges" afforded Mill workers?
  5. Bragg mentions that his mother and paternal grandmothers married for love. How did this choice work out for them? Do you think that marrying for love is always the best reason to marry?
  6. Why do you think Bragg alternated chapters about "the Boy" with chapters about his father?
  7. What do you think caused Charles Bragg to turn into the man he became? Was it his natural inclination, his genetic heritage, his environment, his inability to better himself?
  8. Why did Charles Bragg leave the Marines?
  9. Do you think that life would have been different for Charles if his family had stayed on with him in Texas? Was Bragg's mother wrong to have gone back to "her mama & her people" back in Alabama after traveling to Texas for a "new start"? After enduring her life with Charles previously, were you shocked she went to Texas in the first place?
  10. How did this volume of family memoir stack up with Bragg's other two volumes? Which did you like best? Least? Do you feel like you understand life in a mill town after having read this book?
  11. What was your favorite anecdote about the younger Charles?