Until They Bring The Streetcars Back

Aside from helping Gretchen, Cal maintains an active social life. What does Cal do with his friends? How does Cal’s social life tie into the novel’s themes?

The story has many narrative threads. Identify the different plots and explain how they come together. How does West juxtapose and relate the crisscrossing stories?

Create a timeline of Cal and Gretchen’s relationship. Trace how their bond begins, how it develops, and what it’s like at the end.

Horace ostensibly meets the criteria for the grouchy dad. What does Horace say and do to reinforce the archetype? How does Horace deviate from the model? When does Horace show compassion and why does he seemingly withhold it?

Connect the title to the theme The Importance of Resilience. How does the title’s diction and tone suggest determination, will, and guts? What role do these traits play in the story?

Riley tells Cal, “System works pretty well for most people, but it didn’t for Gretchen. Has gaps that allow some people to be brutalized” (240). Who benefits from the “system” and why? How does Riley’s statement relate to criticisms from social justice movements like #MeToo and Black Lives Matter?

Cal has a sense of humor. Identify some moments in which Cal uses humor and explain why they make the reader laugh.

Unpack the motif of animals and nature. How do they help Cal see the world? What do they have to do with compassion, danger, trauma, and resilience? Why does Cal sometimes feel animals receive better treatment than humans?