Hearts Unbroken

Hearts Unbroken employs the use of chapter titles to ground, introduce, or emphasize the chapter’s events. Choose three chapters in which the title befits events of the chapter particularly well. Discuss the events briefly and offer 2-3 points of support per chapter for the chapter title’s fittingness.

How do mentions of historical events play a role in the novel’s thematic development? Using a few valid historical websites for research on each event, discuss the impact on tone and theme in scenes in which each of the following events is mentioned: September 11, the Oklahoma City Murrah Federal Building bombing, the Trail of Tears, and the massacre at Wounded Knee.

Louise’s feature on sexual bullying broaches gender issues and potential double standards with which many women struggle in their relationships, family, professions, and daily life. How do female characters show strength, skill, poise, and wisdom in the novel? What actions and words show the fortitude and resolve of Mama, Ms. Wilson, Mrs. Qualey, Rain, and Shelby?

Some secondary characters in Hearts Unbroken have character traits that lean toward a stereotype for that character’s gender, age, or role (or some combination there). The character’s actions, however, individualize him or her and “break” the character from a stereotypical treatment. List 3-5 secondary characters and analyze the ways in which their actions disprove a stereotype. Cam Ryan or Mr. McCloud might be examples.

Louise’s family searches for a church to attend in the novel. They try attending Immanuel Baptist but do not return. How does the church they eventually choose to attend better fit Louise’s family? What details does the author use to describe how their chosen church juxtaposes with Immanuel Baptist? Discuss in your own words the atmosphere the author evokes through Louise’s experiences at the new church.

One way to analyze the structure of Hearts Unbroken is to divide the major events between those occurring before Louise’s senior year begins and those occurring on or after the first day of senior year. Discuss 3-4 impactful, real-time (not backstory) events from before and some events from the first day of senior year or after that connect. Explain how these before-and-after events connect (cause and effect, thematic, character growth, etc.).

The author uses situational irony (the opposite of what’s expected to happen occurs instead) to drive the plot in several places in Hearts Unbroken. For example, Hughie chooses not to perform a role he wanted; his decision drives his interview with Emily, Nick’s cartoon, and Louise’s editorial. Discuss 2-3 other situational ironies in the novel and analyze the plot events that “spring” from each.

Louise learns many lessons from her family members in this novel, but she learns from friends and acquaintances as well. List the most important lessons she learns from Shelby, Dylan, Joey, Karishma, and Daniel (one lesson each). Detail the experiences in each acquaintance’s background or subplot that make him or her a good teacher of that lesson.