Coal Black Horse (26 page)

5. Robey meets so many characters on the road—Morphew, the German, the upside-down boy, the goose man, the major, the pregnant woman in the graveyard, the scavenger
brothers. How do these secondary characters help (or impair) Robey's quest to fi nd his father?

6. What role do fate and second sight play in the novel? For example, Robey's mother knows that Th omas Jackson has died without being told and that Robey must fi nd his father before July. What other examples can you fi nd, and how do fate and premonition guide your own life?

7. Morphew tells Robey that he is “in for an education” (page 21). Aft er a battle later in the story, Robey has this encounter with the coal black horse (page 112): “Th en he urged the horse on and it hesitated before responding as if to acknowledge that its rider had learned some valuable lesson and should be rewarded for such.” What is Robey learning? How does he acknowledge his education?

8. Th roughout the course of the novel Robey has to make hard decisions such as stealing food and horses. How does he feel about these decisions? In what ways do they seem to change him?

9. Robey doesn't kill the man who rapes Rachel even though he has the opportunity and cause to do so. Why doesn't he?

10. Religion plays a signifi cant role over the course of the story, perhaps most dramatically in this revelation on page 116: “He decided from that day forever aft er that there must live a heartless God to let such despair be visited on the earth, or as his father said, a God too tired and no longer capable of doing the work required of him.” How do religion and spirituality shape the novel?

11. Pages 124–26 describe the scavengers and minor businesses that spring up in the wake of battle. How does Robey seem to feel about this? How does this aff ect your perception of the Civil War?

12. Th e pregnant woman in the graveyard tells Robey that “people should be born twice: once as they are and once as they are not” (page 130). What does she mean by this? How does this tie into the themes of the novel?

13. How would you describe Robey's relationship with his mother, the coal black horse, his father, and Rachel? How is each relationship diff erent and alike? And how do these relationships defi ne Robey as a boy and Robey as a man?

14. War has aff ected the land and the people—for example, the “raggedy old woman with a sun-stained and stroke-twisted face” (page 178). To what extent have the characters, the land, and even the animals been aff ected by the ravages of of war?

15. How does the birth of the twins change Robey? How does it change Rachel? Do you have the sense that things will be better or worse for the family? Why?

16. How has Robey's story altered the way you think about war and violence? Has it made you think about love and faith diff erently? Are there particular passages that refl ect your opinions and feelings?

ROBERT OLMSTEAD is the author of five previous books (
River Dogs, Soft Water, A Trail of Heart's Blood Wherever We Go, America by Land
, and
Stay Here with Me
). The recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship, an NEA grant, and the 2007 Heartland Award for Fiction, he is a professor at Ohio Wesleyan University.