The White Bone
by Barbara Gowdy
List Price: $14.00
Pages: 336
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 0312264127
Publisher: Picador USA
A tour de force of the imagination, The White Bone is a thrilling
journey into the minds of African elephants as they struggle to survive
in a land wracked by drought and slaughter. The story is told by a young
cow named Mud, who at the novel’s opening has survived an attack on her
family by ivory poachers. She finds herself at the center of a desperate
quest for the White Bone: an object of mythic power that if found might
lead the herd to safety and survival.
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1. When Date Bed is separated from her family, she discovers that the Domain has been warped by the
violence of man. Because these are “abnormal times,” she’s not quite
certain of animals’ behaviors anymore. It’s clear that the arrival of
man has not only altered the elephants’ world, but the animal kingdom
at large. In what ways are each of the character’s perspectives altered,
both through direct circumstance and spiritually?
2. In what ways do the elephants’ religion parallel and differ from the varieties of human worship?
3. Standing amidst the slaughter of his family, Hail Stones says to Mud, “Only in moments of bliss does
it become apparent to us why terrible things happen” (p. 117). What
does the young bull mean by this statement? If Mud cannot yet understand
the statement, does she by the end of the novel?
4. On p. 121: “Twice [She-Snorts] located Date Bed’s dung and twice she smelled single drops of her blood.
At the first discovery of blood, on the node of a log, She-Snorts said,
‘She is wounded,’ and She-Soothes bellowed, ‘Hardly at all!’ and their
voices, one frightened, one encouraged, described the precise, contracted
boundaries of what could be reasonably felt. Not despairing, not yet.
Not relieved yet, either.” How do these opposite sentiments resonate
throughout the novel at large? Where would you say Mud stands between
such opinions?
5. At the opening of Chapter Ten (p. 159), the author describes the elephants’ sense of time. What
role does memory play in such measurements, and what do the elephants’
perceptions say about how they view themselves?
6. When left to her own devices, how does Date Bed improvise her own measurements of time? And as a consequence,
how does her memory change?
7. Toward the end of Mud’s pregnancy, she experiences a dream of Date Bed telling her, “You must
understand, we aren’t what we think we are.” Date Bed’s trunk then disappears,
and out of the cavity a wind blows and a baby cries, “Mama!” What do
you think this vision means to Mud? What are her feelings about her
own child?
8. When Date Bed finds the Thing, she begins what could be described as a self-exploration. Her
journey increasingly begins to turn inward. Through the exercises that
she uses to recover lost memory, what does Date Bed find?
9. “By what misguided arrangement were she-ones made swollen with memory rather than sleek with appetite?”
(p. 320) Discuss the relevancy of this statement, not only at the close
of the book, but throughout the entire novel.
10. Through Mud’s eyes, who is Bolt?
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"The White Bone is a spectacular achievement."
—Abby Frucht, The Chicago Tribune
"Inspired…a marvel of a book…the language, social structure, intellectual and spiritual world of elephants
are as real as the fabric of human life. Absolutely compelling."
—Alice Munro
