How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America: Essays

What conclusions can you draw about the New York-based publishing industry from Laymon’s depiction of his experiences within it? How would you explain Brandon Farley’s behavior?

Compare Laymon’s relationship with Mississippi to that of the state’s most famous author, William Faulkner, who had once advocated for a slower approach to civil rights. Laymon remarks in the text that Mississippi is home to some of the world’s best storytellers but that race directly impacts each author’s approach to storytelling and forms of characterization. In your comparison, imagine a conversation between Laymon and Faulkner. What might they say to each other about Mississippi—both its past and its future?

Why do you think Laymon ends the collection with the voice of his Aunt Sue?

How does Laymon develop Uncle Jimmy as a foil for his own identity, as presented in the essays?

According to the politics of respectability, if Black people present themselves in ways that accord with white American values, they are likelier to be accepted and perhaps even welcomed into spaces that have not traditionally welcomed them. Laymon is not a proponent of this view, while his mother is. With which perspective do you agree? Why? How is Grandmama’s approach to living different from both her daughter’s and her grandson’s?

How do Laymon’s discussions of the football culture at the University of Mississippi and the career of D’Andre Brown complicate the conventional assumption that professional sports offer a ticket out of poverty, potential imprisonment, and possible death for Black males born into poverty? What does it mean that their hopes hinge on such extremely rare opportunities?

Compare this work to Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me. What similar themes do you notice? How does each writer explore those themes?

What is your position on the debate regarding Confederate symbolism? Do you think that the eradication of these symbols from public spaces is culturally important? Why or why not? Do you think these symbols should be removed from public spaces? Why or why not?