History
371
Devine
Spring
2014
Michael Patrick
MacDonald, All Souls: A Family Story from
Southie
We
will discuss All Souls: A Family Story
From Southie on Tuesday, April
29th. There will a twenty-question quiz on the reading on May 1st.
The
following study questions will help you prepare for the quiz and, more
importantly, think about the issues that MacDonald brings up in his family’s
story.
The quiz questions will be drawn
directly from these study questions.
Study
Questions
- Why
were most kids in the Columbia Point projects born at home?
- What
kinds of adjectives best describe Helen?
How did she exhibit her pride in herself, her family, and her
people? What were her performing
talents?
- Who
always had a “shitbox” and what does the term refer to?
- What
is the only thing Helen kept from her relationship with Bob King?
- What
is the problem the family faces whenever the social worker comes around?
- What
is Mass Mental? Who ended up there
and why?
- In
the fears of the residents of Southie, where will bad news eventually end
up?
- How
were the MacDonalds welcomed into the neighborhood of Old Colony? How do they earn everyone’s
respect?
- How
did Southies distinguish themselves physically from other people?
- What
did pre-teens do for fun in Southie?
- What
was the worst thing you could be in Southie?
- What
did Michael do to get rid of cockroaches?
- What
did people boycott during National Boycott Day?
- What
was ironic about the adoption of “Fight the Power” as the song of protest
for Southie?
- How
did forced busing affect many of Southie’s white teenagers?
- How
did Helen settle scores with Coley in the hospital and Chickie on the
stoop?
- How
did life change for the MacDonalds after Seamus was born?
- Who
was Whitey Bulger? What did he
supposedly do for Southie?
- Why
were strangers poking their heads into Kevin’s window?
- How does Michael get involved in the drug
trade?
- How
did Helen react to being shot? How
did she deal with the shooter?
- What tragic event did Davey and Kathy
have in common?
- What happened to all of Kathy’s friends
who came to see her in the hospital?
- How did Frankie get mixed up in the armed
car robbery?
- How
did Kevin end up at Bridgewater State Hospital?
- How
was Whitey able to elude the police?
How did he stay on good terms with people in Southie?
- What effect did the Community Disorders
Unit have on race relations in Southie?
Why?
- Why was Michael so angry that Whitey had
snitched? Who else was to blame for
all the problems in Southie?
- How
would you describe the case against Stevie? Why was it so hard to get justice?
- Why
was Michael so happy at Grandpa’s funeral?
Broader Issues
- What
role does silence play in the book?
Is silence good or bad in the context of life in Southie?
- The
ancient Greeks defined “tragedy” as a good man brought to a bad end by the
very qualities that allowed him to achieve greatness in the first
place. How might one argue that
this definition of “tragedy” fits the lives of several of Michael
MacDonald’s siblings and the story of Southie itself?
- Think
about motherhood as it is portrayed in the book. What distinguishes “Ma” (Helen) in the
story? Is she a good mother to her
children? What role does she play in the Southie community?
- Often
our society conflates the issues of race and poverty: “Black and Latino
people are poor; white people are middle class or wealthy.” How does All
Souls complicate the
issue of poverty? After reading this book, why do you think some people
born into poverty remain poor while others escape poverty?
- What
were the myths the residents of Southie told themselves about their
neighborhood? What were the myths
that outsiders (white liberals, the media, social activists) told about
the neighborhood?
- How
did Whitey Bulger exploit the residents of Southie by appealing to the
very values that many residents believed made their neighborhood special?
- MacDonald
remarks that if you stand your ground, you end up going nowhere. Why is
this observation especially relevant when examining the teen culture of Southie?
- Why
did the white residents of Southie hate the white liberals? Why did the liberals’ dismissal of Southie
residents as “racists” (particularly during the busing crisis) tell only
part of the truth?
- How
did the absence of fathers in Southie shape the culture of the
neighborhood?
- Why, after all of his harrowing
experiences growing up in Old Colony, does Michael still believe Southie
is “the best place in the world”?