Bring on the tough stuff - there’s not just one right answer.
- Why do you think that Dinesen devotes so many pages to "A Shooting Accident on the Farm"? Why is it important to understanding Africa, for her?
- Out of Africa was written in English, which is not the author's first language. Why do you think she chose to write in a foreign tongue?
- Baroness Blixen barely mentions her husband, whom we know to be a rotten, two-timing scumbag. How do you think the memoir would be different if the Baron were to have entered as a character?
- What do you think of all the languages that Dinesen throws around? She'll stick a French or German line in there with no translation, as though she expects all of her readers to be trilingual. What's the effect of this affect?
- Out of Africa has a really crazy sense of time, with characters floating back in after we've already watched them die, just because the narrator remembered something else about them. Why is the book organized this way, rather than having a more linear arc?
- Does the narrator consider Africa to be her home? Why or why not?
- What do you think that the memoir would be like if it were told from Farah's perspective rather than the Baroness'?
- The narrator often hides herself between general, descriptive statements that don't have an "I", but just seem to be making factual statements. How does that affect the way you read the memoir?