Think

The questions below are intended to help Rice readers think critically about the many issues raised by The House at Sugar Beach.   First-year students, in particular, should note that these questions will serve as the foundation for discussion sessions during and after O-Week.

• The first sentence of The House at Sugar Beach is, "This is a story about rogues."  Who are the rogues in the story, from your perspective?  What rogues plagued Helene?
  
  
• Discuss the discrepancies between Helene's youthful longing to go abroad (to become a "been-to") and her experience as a teen in the United States..  How do Helene's perceptions of the U. S. change?  At what stage (and by what means) does she finally thrive?  What lessons can you take away from Helene's transition in your transition to Rice?
  
  
• Cooper's book describes a distinct line between the Congo people and the native Liberians. Although class distinctions may not be as apparent in other cultures, they are nonetheless present in the structure of most societies.  Are we affected by such boundaries in the United States?  If such boundaries and distinctions are present, how do they affect our sense of identity and are they a significant part of our self-understanding?
  
  
• Throughout the novel, Helene both encounters and assumes cultural and ethnic stereotypes. Though remarkably diverse, the Rice community is not free of stereotypes.  What are some of the stereotypes associated with Rice? Rice students? Texas?  The United States?  How can we best counteract stereotypes?  Is Helene successful in developing her own identity beyond the stereotypes of her binary cultures?
  
  
• Do you think Eunice's adoption into the Cooper family was beneficial or detrimental to her? Why?
  
  
• As Helene discovered, news media tend to give more attention to flashy stories (like the death of Michael Jackson) than to prolonged warfare in developing countries. Do you think the media have a responsibility to report on important global events? Or is news just another business, providing people with what they want?
  
  
• How do you think Helene's life would have been different had she stayed in Liberia?
  
  
• At what point, if any, do a people have a right to overthrow their government by violent means?  What conditions are necessary for non-violent political change?
  
  
• Growing up at Sugar Beach cleary was the defining experience of Helene's life. How much and in what ways has your hometown or home country influenced you and your life?
  
  
• To what degree did you see sexism in the book? Do you think that sexism had a more significant impact on Helene's experience than racism and classism?
  
  
• How and how much do you think class affects personal identity? Do you think it plays a more significant role in one's identity than race, gender or nationality?
  
  
• The social and economic stratification in Liberian society was one of the catalysts for the coup and subsequent installment of a military regime.  The United States is a country where the majority of the wealth is controlled by a minority of the population.  Does the United States exhibit tensions comparable to those described in Ms. Cooper's book?
  
  
• In America, Cooper found herself no longer a member of the "elite" and adrift in a culture that differed in almost every way from that in Liberia.  How did she (how does one) adapt when thrown into a totally new environment?  How does one balance the desire to conform and fit in with the desire to hold on to one's cultural identity and the opportunity to re-define oneself offered by such experiences?
  
  
• On page 196, Cooper describes her move from Liberia to the U.S. as transforming her from "privileged elite" to "African refugee."  How might the move from high school to university be comparable to this experience?