A PA S SA G E N O R T H READING GROUP GUIDE
ANUK ARUDPRAGASAM 1. Why is it difficult for Krishan to process Sri Lanka’s civil war? What do other displaced Tamils struggle with in this regard? 2. Technically, Rani is Appamma’s caretaker—but they both help each other in different ways. Discuss what each woman is struggling with and how their relationship helps them both. 3. What did you learn about the Sri Lankan civil war that you didn’t know before reading A Passage North? How can reading a novel help us understand history differently than reading a newspaper or a historical nonfiction account of the same events? 4. Much of the novel takes place in Krishan’s mind as he reflects on his life and memories while traveling. How does this give us a deeper perspective on his character? 5. Why does Krishan eventually conclude that it doesn’t matter whether Rani died accidentally or by suicide? Do you agree with his reasoning? 6. Krishan observes that Appamma’s loneliness seemed to speed up her body’s aging. Do you agree with this concept? What else do you think we need to keep us young, at least metaphorically? 7. “There was a tendency, he knew, when thinking about people from the past, to believe they’d remained the same while you yourself had evolved,” Arudpragasam writes. Have you ever experienced this? Why do you think it’s so hard for us to accept that other people change just as much as we do? 8. Each character carries his or her own trauma from the war. What does A Passage North have to say about how trauma affects each person differently? 9. Discuss some of the works/poems from classical South Asian literature that Krishan references. How do these stories help Krishan understand his life? Which one stood out to you the most, and why? 10. The concept of vision and various forms of “the gaze” appear prominently throughout the novel: Anjum tells Krishan about lecherous men on trains and how they try to consume women with their eyes; Krishan recalls a story about a prisoner wanting to donate his eyes to a Tamil child who couldn’t see and, instead, his eyes are gouged out; Krishan focuses on the image of Rani’s eyes burning in her funeral pyre. What do these images represent? What do you think the author is trying to say about the power of sight, and how what we see relates to memory? 11. Anjum and Krishan had a passionate relationship—but something always held them back from each other. What moment would you say was the beginning of the end? How does Krishan reflect on the reasons for their breakup? 12. There is a long discussion of desire and yearning in the book’s final chapter. How is each feeling distinguished from the other? Do you agree with the distinction? What are some examples of desire or yearning in the book, and how do they relate to each other? 13. What has Krishan learned about himself by the end of his journey? How has he changed? HOGARTH