Black Water (Doughty) - Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, consider our LitLovers talking points to start a discussion for Black Water...and then take off on your own:

1. What do you think of Nicolaas Den Herder, AKA John Harper? Why is he living in a hut in a remote corner of the world? In what way is he more than he appears? Is he a moral individual?

2. Talk about Harper as young Nocolaas. How did his beginnings, his birth in a prison camp and his upbringing, shape the man we meet in the novel? In what way does his childhood explain why Harper is the man he is—and why he leads the life he leads?

3. Follow-up to Questions 1 and 2: At one point, Rita asks, "John, what happened to you?" Why does she ask that question? Second, what did happen to Harper? How does Louise Doughty unravel life events that have cost John so dearly? And what, exactly, are those costs?

4. What about Rita? What do you make of her?

5. Talk about the dire poverty, in Indonesia. Consider the conversation Harper had with a colleague in 1965 regarding a bag of rice that would feed a single person for two weeks—it cost 1,000 rupiah. A schoolteacher, on the other hand, earned 500 rupiah a month. Harper responded, "when rice is that expensive, human beings are cheap." What are the implications of that observation, for the people of Indonesia or even, on a global scale, for nations, rich and poor?

6. Rita assures Harper that things are better in Indonesia. Can Harper convince himself that life has changed for the better? What do you think?

7. Follow-up to Question 5: How does the nexus of global politics and multinational corporations play out in this novel?

8.  What, precisely, is Harper's role in Indonesia? People in his position are sent into countries to find answers to questions. What questions? And for whose benefit?

9. What kind of life does a spy lead? Consider friends and lovers, how people are viewed as assets and tools, the constant facade one hides behind, to say nothing of the presence of danger. What does that kind of life do to a soul? Or what kind of person chooses that profession?

10. Talk about Nicolaas's beloved Poppa, a man willing to put everything at risk to help those in need. How do we explain that kind of virtue in a world so fallen? Might the author be suggesting that, despite our lip service for doing good, Poppa is the one out of step in a fallen world, a world where people like Harper (and ourselves, perhaps?) are preoccupied with their own preservation?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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