60 pages • 2 hours read
Catherine MarshallChristy
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1967A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Essay Topics
Christy is inspired by the story of Catherine Marshall’s mother Leonora’s experience of volunteering at a mission school in Appalachia. In real life, Leonora married the pastor of the mission. What impact does this change have on the story and its themes?
Compare Christy to the sub-genre of coming-of-age novels. What similarities and differences can you identify in terms of themes, character development, and narrative structure? Use specific examples from the text to support your response.
How did Doctor MacNeill’s transformation regarding his faith at the end of the story impact the text’s overall portrayal of his character? Which elements of the story made his transformation seem likely?
Research the beliefs and values of the Quaker form of Christianity. How is Miss Alice representative of that tradition, and how is she different? Use specific examples from the novel to support your answer.
Research the theological debates going on in the early 20th century between “fundamentalists” and “liberals” in American Christianity (both terms properly apply to those debates, but their meanings have shifted in the decades since). Where would you place David’s theological position on the spectrum of those debates? Where would you place Miss Alice?
How do the character’s different reactions to the moonshine affair reflect different levels of empathy toward the community’s economic position and structural challenges, including limited employment opportunities?
How does the geographical and natural setting of the story affect various elements of the plot? Use specific examples from the text to support your answer.
Research life in Appalachia along the Tennessee/North Carolina borderlands in the early 20th century. In what ways is Christy’s depiction of that environment accurate? In what ways is the novel’s setting different?
Describe some of the changes in Christy’s character by the end of the novel. What important questions about herself and the world has she found answers to? Use specific examples from the text to support your answer.
