1.) Charles Martin’s book When Crickets Cry has the subtitle “A Novel of the Heart.” The sub-title clearly indicates that the focus is on the heart. List and discuss the various aspects of the heart as portrayed in the book. Give examples of characters whose lives portray the various aspects of the heart as shown in the novel.
2.) The books talked about it [the heart] as if it were a sump pump stuck down in the muck and mire of somebody’s backyard. Never in all my scientific reading did I encounter anything that talked about a broken heart. Never did I read anything about what the heart felt, how it felt or why it felt. Feeling and knowing weren’t important, only understanding. (79)
Ironically, Reese’s description of the heart as a sump pump does effectively describe how we often ignore the health of our own hearts and cause them to do more work than is good for them as they try to pump out all the junk we put into them. Discuss the literal and symbolic junk we dump in our heart.
2.) Reese, your books might not tell you this, so I will. Every heart has two parts, the part that pumps and the part that loves. If you’re going to spend your life fixing broken hearts, then learn about both. You can’t just fix one with no concern for the other. (80)
What did Reese say to Annie when she was declared dead on the operating table? How does that fit with the quote from Emma?
3.) “You put a new heart in Emma a long time ago, it just wasn’t the kind you were thinking of.” He laughed to himself. “Hope is an amazing thing. I saw it in Emma, saw it with my own eyes.” (274)
Hope is a recurring theme in the book. Discuss the purpose of hope in the lives of the character’s Reese, Emma, Annie, Cindy, and Charlie. How does it affect their lives and behavior?
4.) “I may be blind, but I can still see.” He turned in my direction. “Sometimes, I see better than those who still have their eyes.”(176)
The ability to see clearly is an ongoing theme throughout the book; one that is often the subject of discussion between Reese and his blind brother-in-law Charlie. On page 330, near the end of the book, Reese whispers “Charlie...I can see.” What is the significance of the repeated referrals to sight and of Reese’s statement?
Martin, Charles. When Crickets Cry: A Novel of the Heart. Thomas Nelson, 2006. ISBN 978-1-59554-054-6
Read a book review of When Crickets Cry.
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