Essay Questions

Who were the Confederate soldiers?

The Confederate soldiers were members of the Confederate State which existed between 1861 and 1865. The Confederate States supported slavery and it is believed that they started the Civil War with the attack on a Union base in North Carolina. The Confederate soldiers served during the Civil War that took place between 1861 and 1865 and they tried to fight both for the independence of the Confederate State and for the right to continue using slaves.

What was the Home Guard?

During the events taking place in the novel, the main character fears that he will be caught by the Home Guard and killed. The name Home Guard was given to a group both of Confederate soldiers and Union soldiers who were given the task of finding deserters and punishing them. The soldiers from the Home Guard were known for killing their prisoners; thus, the runaway soldiers were afraid of being caught by the Home Guard above anything else. Some of the characters in the novel are eventually killed by the soldiers in the Home Guard.

Why did Ada almost starve to death after her father died?

The action of the novel takes place during the American Civil War, a period that challenged the country. During the time when the war took place, women had almost no rights. Women were seen as daughters and wives but were not seen as independent beings, capable of thinking and acting for themselves. If a woman was unmarried, then she depended on her male relatives to take care of her as she had no other ways of sustaining herself. When Ada became an orphan, her situation was extremely difficult since she had no male guardian to take care of her. Because of this, Ada faced the possibility of starving to death because she had no means of taking care of herself.