1. Talk about the ways in which Johanna
Leonberger's life among the Kiowa Indians has shaped her identity, for
better and for worse.
2. Captain Kidd is reluctant at first to be saddled with Johanna. What
changes his mind: why does he agree to take her to San Antonio? What
does it say about the kind of man he is? What kind of man, in fact, is
he?
3. How does Paulette Jiles depict post-Civil War Texas? What kind of
place is it? Talk about the landscape and the type of people Johanna and
Captain Kidd encounter. Also, consider the effects of the Civil War on
the populace: is the war actually over?
4. Trace the development of the bond that develops between Johanna and
Kidd. What cements their relationship? Whom do you think benefits more
from the other? Or is their relationship equally symbiotic?
5. Captain Kidd makes a living traveling through north Texas, reading
the news to audiences who pay to hear hear him. Obviously, the novel's
title refers to this activity, but what else might "the news of the
world" refer to in the novel?
6. All literary journeys follow the arc of the hero's journey. How does
this novel adhere to that ancient narrative? Who is the hero—and in what
way? How do both Johanna and Kidd change or grow as individuals during
the course of their travels?
7. Where you satisfied by the novel's ending? Does Captain Kidd do the
right thing for Johanna? Would you have made the same choice, or a
different one?
* Some questions from
LitLovers.