1. Why does Speare load the first chapter with so many important characters?

Are all the principal characters well drawn?

2. Does Kit react to situations the same way that a sixteen-year-old today would?

3. What might readers conclude about outcasts in this Puritan society? About the society's tolerance? How significant is group pressure in Puritan society?

4. What moral questions arise from the book?

5. What significance do you find in the characters' names?

6. What tension exists between Kit and Nat? Cite examples of increasing and diminishing tension.