We’ve prepared the following discussion questions for Giddyap Tin Lizzie with book clubs in mind. Enjoy!

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Book Club Discussion Questions for Giddyap Tin Lizzie

1) If you were Walter Duffy, which grandson would you leave your farm to? Why?

2) Though not nearly as severe as the Great Depression, the recent “Great Recession” marked a historic economic downturn for the U.S. How have the past few years shaped your perspective on the Great Depression and its long term affect on those who lived through the 1930s? How did the Great Depression shape your parents’ and grandparents’ financial habits and general approach to life?  How has the recent “Great Recession” similarly shaped your children and grandchildren?

3) Will and Mary O’Shaughnessy treasure their Irish and Cornish heritage, and continue to practice family customs. What is your family’s cultural heritage? Have you traced your genealogy? What cultural traditions, including food, do you still practice today?

4) Early in the twentieth century, small, rural communities like Ashley Springs were self sufficient. You could buy almost everything you needed – from a pair of trousers, to a steak, to a car, to a box of nails, to a cherry phosphate – at a handful of stores in your small downtown shopping district. Do you remember those days? If so, what are your best memories? How has the small town retail landscape changed today? What factors have influenced that? How has that change been for the better – and for the worse?

5) Will’s first car was a Model T. What was your first car? What memories do you have of it?

6) Will’s brother, Jesse, was drafted to fight in World War I. Did anyone in your family serve in World War I? Where did they serve and what is their service story?

7) Will O’Shaughnessy lives in an era of fast changing technology. He sees the shift from buggies to cars, the introduction of talking movies and radio, and the introduction of gas and electric-powered farm machinery. How does the pace of technological change early in the twentieth century mirror the pace of technological change in the early twenty-first century? What lessons could we apply today, regarding our embrace of new technology, based on what was viewed as progress a century ago and the ultimate benefits and consequences to society?

 

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