74 pages 2 hours read

Diana Gabaldon

An Echo in the Bone

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2009

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Essay Topics

1.

What kinds of echoes or repetition are present in the novel? How do the novel’s themes function as echoes of earlier entries in the series, and how does An Echo in the Bone establish its own patterns of reoccurrence and references across time?

2.

How does Gabaldon participate in offensive and stereotypical portrayals of Indigenous Americans? How does her participation in these racist tropes influence your understanding of her characters? Does Gabaldon ever resist stereotypes through her Indigenous characters?

3.

An Echo in the Bone includes many letters written between characters, both across centuries and within their own time periods. What effect do the letters have, in contrast to the traditional narration of story events? What might be lost if Gabaldon did not include them?