Study Questions for I Heard the Owl Call My Name
Chapters 1-4
Chapter One
1. We are told on the 1st page that the young vicar will be sent to Kingcome because of what reason?
2. What does Caleb teach the young man?
3. What does Caleb tell the young man?
4. How old is the Vicar?
5. What is the Vicar’s name?
6. How does Mark feel about Jim Wallace?
7. Where are Mark and Jim headed?
8. What do they talk about during their trip?
9. What is the story behind the village? How did it come to be?
10. What information does the Bishop tell the young man at the end of chapter one?
Chapter Two
11. When Mark arrives at the Village and goes to the Vicarage, what does the find? Why has it not been taken care of?
12. What type of burial system/burial tradition do the people of the village have?
Chapter Three
13. T. P. comments on Mark’s actions at the burial—What does he say?
14. How is Marta described on page 31?
Chapter Four
15. How is the Vicarage described to us? Are there problems?
16. The Bishop sends Mark a letter—what does he say in that letter? How does Mark react to this letter?
17. What does the teacher ask for? Why is the teacher different?
18. How does Mark’s first service go? Do many villagers show up? What does this tell us about the way
the villagers feel about him?
Study Questions for I Heard the Owl Call My Name
Chapters 5-8
Chapter Five
1. What causes a change in the relationship between Mark and Jim?
2. Why do Jim and Mark take a trip up stream?
3. One of the female characters is schedule to marry—who is it? Who is she going to marry?
4. How does Jim feel about this marriage?
Chapter Six
5. How does the relationship between Jim and Mark grow on the hunting trip?
6. Mark says “And I’ll never fish as well as the Indians. Sometimes I am not sure I’ll learn to handle the boat” (52). Why is this important? What does this show about Mark’s personality?
7. How is Mark’s attitude toward his surrounding changing as time passes?
Chapter Seven
8. How does Mark spend the early winter months?
9. What does Mark tell the Bishop he has learned? How does the bishop respond?
10. How is Christmas time spent in the village?
11. How does he describe the people of the village in the last paragraph on page 58?
Chapter Eight
12. After Christmas Mark says that he senses a strange feeling in the village, why?
13. What does Peter, the carver say about the Indian culture?
14. How does Mark meet Gordon?
15. What do we learn about Keetah at the end of chapter 8?
Study Questions for I Heard the Owl Call My Name
Chapters 9-12
Chapter Nine
1. When chapter 9 opens Keetah and her sister are discussing what event?
2. The people of the village are gathered outside for what reason?
3. What is the potlatch? Why is the important?
4. Mark is anxious to meet somebody--- who is it?
5. Why are the potlatches so important? What were they like before they were outlawed by the government?
6. Mark and Jim are called away to help a sick boy – when they return to the village on Saturday they notice it is usually quite – why is that? What happened?
7. Who are the “us” that Mrs. Hudson refers to in the question “What have you done to us”?
Chapter Ten
8. How is Mark’s understanding of the language changing?
9. Jim leaves the village at time to go see who?
10. Mark goes to see the RCMP to discuss which two issues?
11. What is the 1st myth related to us on page 77?
12. What is the second myth related to us on pages 77-78?
13. What information does the RCMP sergeant give about Keetah’s sister?
Chapter Eleven
14. In the beginning of chapter 11 Mark is called to help Gordon’s mother- why? What is wrong with her?
15. What does Gordon’s mother say before she dies?
16. The Native Americans offer to help Mark do what?
17. How does the Bishop respond when he is notified in the letter about what the Native Americans have offered?
Chapter Twelve
18. Once the Vicarage is complete the people of the village ask who to come bless it?
19. The Bishop goes to see who? Why is she not at the service?
20. What will the Native Americans soon be able to buy? Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
Study Questions for I Heard the Owl Call My Name
Chapters 13-14
Chapter Thirteen
1. Why does the author say that “August was a month of worry and waiting” (100)? What are the men of the village doing?
2. When Mark arrives in the village he sees that there are “new & different” people in the village- who are they?
3. What do the following lines tell us about Mark and the attitude he has towards the Native Americans?
“They were on their way back to a life, he no longer knew, as distant as another planet, and he was glad to see them go?” (102)
4. An anthropologist comes to visit the village – what does she say to Mark?
5. At the end of chapter 13 we find out the Natives have spent a total of how much money on alcohol?
Chapter Fourteen
6. Where is Gordon headed?
7. Mark and Jim take Gordon and the three other young men under their wing to teach them about what?
8. Where will the boys live while attending school?
9. What advice does Mark give the boys?
10. When Mark returns home he is surprised to find what?
Discussion Questions: Answer any five questions of your choice. Each response should be about a paragraph long.
1. In chapter 1, Caleb tells Mark that Mark knows nothing. In what sense is this true?
2. What is the Kwakiutl's (Kwacutal) attitude toward material possessions? In what sense, if any, does it differ from your own?
3. One value Mark begins to appreciate in the village is their service to others. What are some examples of it?
4. The Kwakiutl's definition of "village" includes the weather, myths, animals, and much more. How is this different from modern society's concept?
5. There is no word for "thank you" in Kwakwala, the language of the tribe. What does this reveal about their culture?
6. What, in specific terms, is wrong with the teacher's attitude toward the villagers? Contrast it with Mark's attitude.
7. What is the swimmer? Why is its life cycle so significant to the Indian culture?
8. What is the “unease” that Mark senses in the village? What has brought it on? Can you see any parallels in our own society?
9. Mark tells Gordon as he leaves the village, “you will be lonely, and you will be afraid sometimes. I was lonely, and I was afraid when I went to your village. Both are an inescapable part of every life.” Do you agree that loneliness and fear are an inescapable part of life? Explain.
10. When the elders asked Mark to agree to the path that they had chosen for Gordon did you agree with what Mark replied? Why or why not?
11. On page149 the Bishop reveals to Mark the reason he has been sent to Kingcome. Now that Mark must return to his former society, how does he feel?
12. Mark finally hears the owl call his name. How has he changed since the beginning of the story?
13. Craven chooses to end the story by using one of the Native American Indian phrases which translates as “That is All.” How does this differ from the more common phrase, “The End?”