We Cast a Shadow

Analyze the character of Dinah Viet Dinh. How does her arc illustrate the experiences of different non-white groups in the world of We Cast a Shadow?

Throughout the novel, the narrator often hyper-focuses on instances of light and dark imagery. Select three of those images to discuss in detail. What do they say about the narrator’s mindset?

How does Ruffin’s satirical writing style enhance the themes of the book? Provide examples of other works that use satire to amplify dark themes.

What is the effect of the novel’s setting in a world that closely parallels modern-day America? How might the experience of reading the book be different if the setting were changed?

Nigel undergoes demelanization at his father’s behest but later allows his birthmarks to spread across his entire body. The narrator also undergoes demelanization and begins living as a white man, but after he is slashed in an attack, his wounds heal into the original color of his skin, which slowly begins to spread. What does this imagery say about identity in the novel?

What is the role of finding a community in the novel? Discuss this in the context of the eventual fates of Nigel and the narrator.

In the final line of the novel, the narrator describes himself as a ghost, doomed to “[haunt] endless grasslands in search of a spear tip sharp enough to finally cut this knot” (320). Where else in the novel are grasslands referenced? What does the “knot” symbolize?

Despite losing his entire family by the end of the novel, the narrator remains convinced that he could not have acted in any other way. Consider the narrator’s statement that his actions were justified because “America [is] no normal nation” (319). What does the narrator think “normal” is, and what does this justification say about the narrator’s moral schema?