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About the In Our Midst by Nancy Jensen Discussion category
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0
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8
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November 24, 2024
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What audience would you recommend In Our Midst to? Is there another book or author you feel has a similar theme or style?
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11
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36
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December 3, 2024
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What do you think motivated Mr. Beale and Mr. Griffin to help the Austs?
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7
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16
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December 3, 2024
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In Our Midst also deals with the idea of "the kindness of strangers." Can you think of specific examples, small and large, of that motif in your own life? Should strangers be regarded as enemies or new friends?
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6
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16
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December 3, 2024
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Overall, what did you think of In Our Midst? (no spoilers, please!)
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14
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38
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December 3, 2024
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One of the ideas central to In Our Midst is family love and loyalty. In what ways do members of the Aust family make sacrifices for one another?
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4
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14
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December 3, 2024
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Once incarcerated, Otto wants to keep busy and do as he’s ordered while Kurt wants to fight the system. Do you feel age plays a role or are their actions more related to their personalities? What would you have done in their place?
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16
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32
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December 3, 2024
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Would you have made the same choice Nina did, joining your family in an internment camp? If you had been the one arrested and placed in an internment camp, would you have urged your spouse to join you?
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9
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25
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December 3, 2024
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How did you feel as you read about conditions in the internment camps? Prior to reading this book, were you aware of the internment of German- and Italian-Americans during WWII?
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13
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50
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December 3, 2024
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The young men in the story – Hugh, Gerhard and Kurt – are pressured to enlist. What did you think of their decisions? Do you think their families’ situations would have changed had they made different choices?
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5
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16
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December 2, 2024
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Johan asks Otto, “What country at war cares for principles?” Do you believe war justifies compromising a country’s principles? In what ways do you think the USA’s wartime actions would be different if war broke out today, and in what ways the same?
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7
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23
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December 2, 2024
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Nina recalls an exchange with an African-American family outside the restaurant that she comes to realize was misinterpreted and, therefore, accepted by her patrons. What do these experiences communicate about American values during the early 1940s?
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3
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10
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December 2, 2024
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How would you describe Nina and Otto's relationship as a couple and their relationship with each of their sons at the beginning of the story? How do those relationships change through the course of the story?
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1
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6
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December 2, 2024
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The boys who beat Hugh are newly enlisted "good" Americans, and the men who torture Gerhard are Nazis. How are their actions and underlying motivations the same and how are they different?
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4
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15
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December 2, 2024
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Otto consciously rejects initiating the process to attain US citizenship. If you're a US citizen, how did that make you feel? If you're an immigrant who has attained citizenship or is in the process of obtaining it, how did you feel about his decision?
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10
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29
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December 1, 2024
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Which of the characters in In Our Midst do you consider the most American, according to your definition of fundamental American values?
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3
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15
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December 1, 2024
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Were there some characters about whom you felt strongly? Ones whom you sometimes liked, sometimes disliked? Why might a fiction writer want to avoid creating characters who are either "saints" or "sinners"?
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5
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20
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December 1, 2024
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Music, singing, and the power of lyrics to connect to or express deep emotion recur throughout the story. Which of these moments made the strongest impression on you? Are there songs or poems that deeply affect you?
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4
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9
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November 27, 2024
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Mr. Griffin says, “When people are afraid, they’ll hand over their rights as willingly as they’d hand over pennies for bread. But not until they’ve handed over other people’s rights first.” What was your reaction to that passage?
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4
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11
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November 27, 2024
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What kind of future do you envision for each member of the Aust family? Do you have an opinion about how each of their lives might play out?
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3
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9
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November 26, 2024
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Is there a quote or a scene in the novel that stood out? Why do you think it resonated with you?
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1
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12
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November 26, 2024
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