The Antidote

Use two or more characters to examine the trope of mothers and mothering presented throughout the novel. What does the novel suggest about societal notions of motherhood versus lived experiences?

In what way is ancestral memory important to specific characters in the novel? What does the novel suggest about the impact of past actions on the future?

The novel explores several instances of people who are disadvantaged or disparaged because of their gender. Choose one or two key characters to examine how gender operates to create disparities. How do these characters confront or overcome the obstacles placed on them because of their gender?

Several types of communities are present in the novel. What does the novel suggest are the factors that create a strong and healthy bond among community members?

Cleo Allfrey makes several claims about the capability of a photograph. Though her boss instructs her to gather photos as documentation of farming practices in light of the ecological damages that led to the Dust Bowl, Allfrey is drawn to her subjects for different reasons. Examine the reprints of actual photos that appear throughout the novel. Choose two or three that underscore one or more of Allfrey’s assertions about photography and art. Further, consider the impact of the appearance of the hole punched into the negative by Stryker.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal was a series of programs designed to stimulate the economy and provide employment during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Which New Deal programs are evident in the novel, what effects do they have, and what underlying value system do they imply?

“Native American Residential Schools” operated in both the United States and Canada into the 20th century as a means of forcing Indigenous children to assimilate to mass culture. How does this forced assimilation echo or abet the willful forgetting depicted in the novel?

Elements of fantasy or magical realism make The Antidote similar to works such as Bonnie Jo Campbell’s The Waters; Holly Gramazio’s The Husbands; and Kevin Wilson’s Nothing to See Here. Choose one of these or a similar contemporary novel to examine how the author effectively melds fantastical elements into a realistic world: What techniques or factors make the unreal plausible?