Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: book club questions by chapter

🦉 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight · meeting 1 of 3

Read: Part One, “The Christmas Game” (pages 1–4, about 5 minutes aloud).
Stop at the end of page 4, and don't read on: the next part is for next time.

1. What game does the Green Knight propose?
   The story's answer: A knight may strike him once, if he will take the same blow in a year and a day
2. Why does Gawain volunteer instead of King Arthur?
   The story's answer: He says his own life is the least valuable, to protect the king
3. Who have we met so far, and what does each of them want?
   Listen for: Make a list together on the board; keep it for next time and add to it.
4. The part we just read is called "The Christmas Game". Why do you think it has that name?
   Listen for: Any answer that points to a moment in the part is a good one; ask for the page.
5. Stop here. What do you think will happen next? Write or draw one guess to check next time.
   Listen for: Keep the guesses in an envelope. Don't say whether a guess is right: the next part will.

🦉 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight · meeting 2 of 3

Read: Part Two, “The Winter Journey”; Part Three, “The Exchange of Winnings” (pages 5–9, about 6 minutes aloud).
Stop at the end of page 9, and don't read on: the next part is for next time.

1. What bargain does Gawain make with the lord of the castle?
   The story's answer: To exchange whatever each of them wins every day
2. Look back at last time's guesses. Which came true, and what surprised you?
   Listen for: Read the guesses out. Nobody was wrong: a guess that missed often shows what the author wanted us to expect.
3. The part we just read is called "The Exchange of Winnings". Why do you think it has that name?
   Listen for: Any answer that points to a moment in the part is a good one; ask for the page.
4. Stop here. What do you think will happen next? Write or draw one guess to check next time.
   Listen for: Keep the guesses in an envelope. Don't say whether a guess is right: the next part will.

🦉 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight · meeting 3 of 3

Read: Part Four, “The Green Chapel” (pages 10–13, about 5 minutes aloud).
Stop at the end of page 13, the end of the story.

1. Why does the Green Knight's third blow nick Gawain's neck?
   The story's answer: Gawain had hidden the green girdle instead of handing it over
2. What does the green sash come to mean at Camelot?
   The story's answer: That even the best people fall short, and honor means owning up to it
3. Look back at last time's guesses. Which came true, and what surprised you?
   Listen for: Read the guesses out. Nobody was wrong: a guess that missed often shows what the author wanted us to expect.
4. The part we just read is called "The Green Chapel". Why do you think it has that name?
   Listen for: Any answer that points to a moment in the part is a good one; ask for the page.
5. Now that you know the ending, was it the ending you expected?
   Listen for: Ask what in the earlier parts pointed to it, or pointed the other way.

About the whole story

1. What makes the main character a hero? Would you want them as a friend?
   Listen for: Heroes of legends are brave but not always kind; ask for both sides.
2. Which part of this could have really happened, and which part grew in the telling?
   Listen for: Legends often start from a real person or place.
3. How would the story change if someone else told it?
   Listen for: Try the villain's side.
4. Who would you give this story to, and why them?
   Listen for: A reader who can name the right person has understood what the story is like.
5. If you could ask the person who first told this story one question, what would it be?
   Listen for: Collect the questions; some have answers on the story's page in the library.