LoP 9/26

Some questions to ponder for the reading:

Chapter One:

• What is the difference, if any, between "landscape" and "geography?"
• Why is Graves motivated to canoe the Brazos? Have you ever been motivated in the same way to do something similar?
• What does Graves mean when he says that you can comphrehend a piece of a river? What are some elements of that piece that you can comprehend?
• How many ways does Graves know this river? What does that tell us about the many ways we know a landscape (i.e., how many ways can you know a landscape)?

Chapter Two:

• How is the year/time in which Graves traveling similar/not similar to this year?
• What is Graves's mood as he is starting out? Is he excited? Mournful? Complacent?
• How old is Graves, and how do you know this? That is, what things gives you a sense of his age?
• What does Graves say about "aloneness?" Do you agree?

Chapter Three:

• The Brazos River's full Spanish name is "El Rio de los Brazos de Dios." Who named it, what does this mean, and why do you suppose it got that name?
• According to Graves, what changed the Commanche and gave them power?
• What cultures collide along the Brazos, how, and why?
• How does Graves weave the history of the Brazos into his own story?

Chapter Four:

• River people talk about "river time." Based on what Graves says about impatience and cities, what do you think this might be?
• Graves spends a lot of time describin the people who used and settled the river throughout its history. Do you see influences of these in the cultures and attitudes of contemporary Texans?
• How does Graves describe the river?
• What details does he give us to set the mood of this chapter, and what is that mood?
• Who is the "passenger," and why is he along on this trip? What role does he play in Graves's telling of the story. Does he "stand in" for Graves in some way?
• How does Graves's war experience color his experience on the river?
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Chapter Five:

• What does Graves mean, and to what was he referring when he wote "you do not, for instance, conquer and Aztec empire with 400 men and a set of developed humanistic impulses"?
• What Graves have to say about hunting?

Use these questions as a guide to your reading. Think aobut them and the story as you go along, and come up with questions and musing of your own to discuss when we get together.