The Huntress

What role do memory and forgetting play in the novel? How do these play out on both a personal scale and a national scale?

Do you find the Huntress an entirely unsympathetic character? With close reference to the text, give reasons for your answer.

What is the significance of the rusalka in Quinn’s novel? At various intervals, which characters are symbolized by the rusalka and how?

What is the significance of family in Quinn’s novel? How does the improvised family Quinn depicts in the book’s Epilogue differ from the nuclear family that dominates so many portrayals of 1950s America?

What roles do disguise and shape-shifting play in Quinn’s novel? How do individual characters’ disguises reflect or distort their deeper personalities?

The Huntress tells Jordan that “cowardice doesn’t exist […] nor does bravery. Only nature. If you’re the hunter, you stalk and if you’re the prey, you run.” Do you find this argument convincing? To what extent does the novel prove her wrong or right?

What is the function and symbolism of McBride’s Antiques in Quinn’s novel? Discuss its symbolism in reference to divides between Old World Europe and New World America.

What roles do trauma and fear play in the novel? Pick three characters and describe how they deal with wartime trauma in the present.