57 pages • 1 hour read
Cynthia BondRuby
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2014A 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
Many residents of Liberty brand Ruby with the jezebel stereotype. Research other racist tropes associated with Black women, including the Sapphire and Mammy caricatures. Are any of the novel’s other Black female characters typecast by their communities as one of these stereotypes? How does it affect their lives?
Despite both experiencing early childhood sexual abuse, Omar Jennings and Ruby Bell turn into starkly different adults and function as foils for each other. What factors of experience, circumstance, and identity account for their different outcomes? How are the standards for men in Liberty different than those placed on women?
How does Bond portray folk spiritualism in Ruby? What qualities does it share with Christianity, and where do the practices differ?
In Chapter 23, Ephram notices the church sisters looking at him with the kind of pride “that only Black women can have in pointing out a good Black man” (258). How does Bond explore relationships between Black men and Black women in Ruby? What societal factors influence these relationships?
Is Ruby a romance novel? Why or why not?
How does the racism Ruby encounters in New York differ from the racism she experiences in Texas? In what ways is it the same?
How does the intersection of racism and intolerance toward gay people affect Ruby and Ephram? Where does the anti-gay sentiment in their communities come from?
How does Bond use magical realism to explore abuse, trauma, and healing?
What does the old crow represent? How does she protect and guide Ruby?
How does the Civil Rights Movement playing out in the background of Ruby relate to the main story? Explore the correlation between this large-scale movement against inequity and Ruby’s personal struggle to survive in Liberty.
