Chancellor's Reading Club

"The Gray Wolf's Ha'nt": Study Questions

Compiled by John Brooks and the students of UNIV 101, Freshman Seminar I

The Text

• "The Gray Wolf's Ha'nt" at Documenting the American South.
• "The Gray Wolf's Ha'nt," read by Sean Baker, freshman at FSU.

The Story

• Why does Julius think planting grapes on the land the narrator proposes is a bad idea?
• Why did Dan kill the conjure man's son?
• What did Aunt Peggy do to protect Dan from the conjure man's magic?
• How did the conjure man discover the secret behind Aunt Peggy's charm?
• How did he overcome Aunt Peggy's charm?
• How does the conjure man convince Dan to let him work his conjure on him?
• How does the conjure man convince Mahaly to let him work his conjure on her?
• How did the conjure man get his revenge?
• How did Dan and Mahaly's fate bring bad luck to the land?
• Did the narrator believe Julius's story?
• Why did the narrator come to believe that Julius had an ulterior motive in telling his tale of the gray wolf's ha'nt?

Characters

How would you describe the following characters in the story?

• The narrator
• The narrator's wife
• Julius
• Dugal McAdoo
• Dan
• The conjure man
• The conjure man's son
• Mahaly
• Aunt Peggy