1. What is the pun in the title of the first section, "Raising Voices"? (To answer this question accurately, please look up the definition of a "pun.") Whose voices do we learn are important in this story in the first 20 pages, and why?
2. Who is the narrator of the story? What does she remember her role was in listening to the "raising voices" of her childhood?
3. How does Bell describe listening and silence as equally important to speaking in this first portion of the novel?
4. The kitchen table is an important symbol in this novel. What does it represent to Lucie, and why is it so significant? In your opinion, what types of nourishment, literally and metaphorically, does Lucie receive at this table, and from whom?