Monkey Beach Study Guide

Monkey Beach Study Guide

Part 1 :                              Summary

Part 1: Love Like the Ocean

The books begins with the main protagonist Lisa hearing crows telling her la’es, go down to the bottom of the ocean. We then learn of Lisa’s brothers , Jimmy, disappearance on his fishing trip. Lisa then has a dream of Jimmy on monkey beach, There is then a flashback of when Lisa was young on a trip to monkey beach and Jimmy obsessing over b’gwus (sasquatches) while Jimmy never did see a b’gwus, Lisa sees one on that trip but keeps it a secret from everyone. Uncle Mick is first introduced after being gone for a long time. Lisa and Jimmy don’t recognize him, but everyone else is happy that he is back. Lisa’s parents leave to get closer to the search for Jimmy. Lisa remembers her brother telling her that he took the job on the Queen of the North “to make things right.”

A day on the beach near the end of summer, the year after Mick came back, with Tab, Erica, and Jimmy. They meet a new girl, Adelaine, who is very beautiful. Lisa left Jimmy and later her mother tells her that someday she’ll miss having him around all the time. Jimmy was a good swimmer; he wanted to be an Olympic swimmer while Lisa struggled to even bob.

During a funeral feast Ma-ma-oo and Trudy didn’t get along. Tab tells Lisa that Ma-ma-oo and Trudy didn’t get along because Ba-ba-oo was abusive and Ma-ma-oo chose to send Mick and Trudy to residential school instead of kicking Ba-ba-oo out of the house.

Lisa was playing with Erica when a bully Frank, along with his friends started to bother them. Lisa and Frank fought, Lisa won, and both ended up going to the ER.

While Christmas tree hunting with her father and Mick, Lisa remembers in class she was forced to read a book about how the Indians killed and ate people but she refused because Ma-ma-oo told her that it was pretend like drinking Christ’s blood at communion. She then proceeded to sing “fuck the oppressors”. Lisa and Ma-ma-oo make an offering to Ba-ba-oo on his birthday. Lisa doesn’t tell her Mom because she feels like it was something private. Ba-ba-oo was a vet who lost an arm in the Second World War but didn’t get money or a job through Veteran’s Affairs.

Lisa remembers going to fishing camp with Mick and seeing a white man and his son in matching scuba gear on the way there, but Mick didn’t see them. Mick tells Lisa about her parents’ first almost-date. Mother, Geordie, and Edith meet them at a cabin. The next day, after they get back to the fishing camp Lisa leaves the cabin without permission and explores an abandoned village. When she comes back she sees Mick put his arms around Gladys’ waist and kiss her neck. Later, back at home Lisa thinks she sees dead chickens. Jimmy use to feed the crows and Jimmy’s crow Spotty was smart enough to use a car to break open a watch. The Little man appears, touches Lisa’s shoulder, trying to comfort her. Later Mick says he went to go check the net. Later Uncle Geordie phoned to say check on the nets, when Lisa and her dad got to the bay Mick’s truck was there and Micks speedboat was near the shore. In present day, Spotty tells Lisa la’sda. Her parent’s call to say that the search party has found an empty life raft from Queen of the North. Lisa decides to take an 11 hour journey by speedboat to meet up with her parents.

Part 2: The Song of Your Breath

This chapter starts off with Lisa on a speedboat on her way to monkey beach. She experiences more flashbacks on her way there. The first flashback was of Micks funeral, some time after the funeral Ma-ma-oo and Lisa start a discussion about seeing spirits. She warns Lisa to be careful when someone dies and tells her about the red haired tree spirit. this is when lisa discovers that she has the gift to see spirits inherited from her mothers side of the family. It is explained that when the Man with red hair appears something bad will happen. The story then moves to when Lisa and Jimmy are older. Jimmy no longer hanging around lisa but he now tells his friends that lisa is adopted. In elementary school she had gotten sick of Erica and her friends and then became isolated and considered a “loner”. After getting in a fight with someone twice her size in school Lisa then befriended Frank Cheese and Pooch, some of the toughest kids in school. While going through Pooch’s voodoo books, Lisa stumbles upon a “communicating with the dead” spell. She tries the spell and saw the little red head man, She then sees a vision of Jimmy. Because the red man comes when something bad is going to happen, Lisa acts as Jimmy’s guard then saved him from mumps. The red haired man came again, warning Lisa about Ma-ma-oo’s heart attack. Ma-ma-oo is now under strict care. Cheese asked Lisa out but she rejected him. Lisa also saves Erica from a potential rape, she gets lectured for not being careful. The spirit appears again. Lisa goes to a party then Cheese gives her a drugged drink. Cheese then rapes Lisa. Frank beats Cheese up when he heard about it. Lisa goes to the hospital to get checked up because of her sleepwalking. She now has therapy sessions. Lisa gets lectured about her school and future. Ma-ma-oo experiences a stroke and is under more care. Lisa and Pooch end up having intercourse. Pooch will be moving to Vancouver. The spirit shows up and Ma-ma-oo’s burns down with Ma-ma-oo in it. Lisa thinks that she could’ve saved Ma-ma-oo if she listened to the spirit. The section ends with Lisa arriving at Monkey Beach.

Part 3: In Search of the Elusive Sasquatch

Lisa partied through grade 10 gave up on grade 11 and ended up in Vancouver where she uses the money she inherited from Ma-ma-oo for drugs and alcohol. One day she sees Tab and is scared that she is dead so she decides to sober up. She then visits Aunt Trudy who ends up bringing her to a party where she sees Frank. Frank soon tells Lisa that Pooch has committed suicide so Lisa decides to go back to kitamaat with him and Karaoke to attend the funeral. While driving up to Kitamaat Lisa sees a sasquatch when everyone is asleep. At Poochs funeral Karaoke briefly mentioned why Pooch killed himself and something about Josh until Frank cut him off. Lisa then goes to a party with Karaoke where she sees Jimmy, they end up catching up and he reveals that he has quit swimming and invites her to come back home to stay for a while. Lisa decides to go back to school and graduate at the same time as Jimmy. At Karaokes birthday party Jimmy and Karaoke make a connection, they soon go missing and Lisa has a dream of Ma-ma-oo and she uses the information to find Jimmy and Karaoke. Karaoke leaves Kitamaat with no explanation, Jimmy responds in anger and parties. Lisa then takes him to Monkey beach trying to sober him up. A while after the trip Karaoke comes back and her and Jimmy return to their romance. Jimmy reveals to his family his plans on giving Karaoke a promise ring. In the present day, voices in the trees offer Lisa help but wants meat as a offering, Lisa makes an offering of her own blood instead. Going back, Jimmy decides to take a job on a fishing boat with Josh to save up money for the wedding.  Jimmy leaves for the fishing trip and tells Lisa to tell Karaoke that he loves her. In response to Jimmy leaving Karaoke punches another girl out. Lisa decides to show Karaoke the ring, and finds a picture in Jimmy’s belongings which explains Josh`s experiences at residential school, Karaoke`s hate for Josh, and the reason for Karaoke`s abrupt and mysterious trip to Vancouver.

Part 4: The Land of the Dead

In the last part of monkey beach, Lisa is with her uncle Mick and Grandfather, Ba-ba-oo, picking a pine out in the woods for the season.  She wakes up from this dream or hallucination of hers and gets frustrated at the voices that are suppose to guide her and help her. The two sides both want something from each other, Lisa is asking them for help to find Jimmy and the voices are asking Lisa for more, to go farther into their world. Lisa gets sucked into another dream or a possible truth this time. She sees Jimmy and Josh fighting on a boat, on the same day and same boat of Jimmy’s disappearance. Jimmy was fighting for what Josh had done to Karaoke and Josh was trying to defend himself. After Jimmy sees that the boat is sinking, he has knocked Josh unconscious and jumped off the boat. They both try to gather themselves and save what they can. Lisa has escaped from the dream into another. In this one, she sees crows and they guide her to a speed boat. After the dream of Jimmy, Lisa is very unstable and watches the speed boat float away from her after untying it half-consciously. The waves envelope her as she reaches and tries to catch the boat from floating away. Again, Lisa is pulled into another dimension and she meets her grandmother, Ma-ma-oo, who warns her that she needs to wake up from all these dreams and illusions because it can be very dangerous. Lisa finds herself swaying in the ocean again. She sees Jimmy and grab hold of him, but he pulls Lisa above the water. She watches as Jimmy slowly goes underwater. By the time she gathers herself, she scrambles for Jimmy, but all around her is just ocean. She suddenly sees a man by the shore and decides to swim towards him. By the shore, a group of people that Lisa doesn’t know, except for Mick, welcomes her as they speak Haisla. They all dance and sing a farewell song. As she recalls Jimmy asking her to give Karaoke the promise ring and tell her that he will come back and find enough money for a wedding with her. Reality brought Lisa back as she lays on the sand by the beach, enjoying the evening view. From a distance, she hears a sasquatch and faintly a speedboat sound nears the shore.

Part 2 : Passages

Part 1 :

“ I jolted awake, heart thudding …... into the wall. ”  ( p.21 paragraphs 1-2 )

In these paragraphs, the red-haired man visits Lisa again. His grin, appearance, and him stepping into the wall gives Lisa an uneasy and scary feeling. From Lisa’s first time seeing him until now and him appearing in her room, she thinks that he is a dangerous monster. Lisa starts to wonder if it was just a dream or was it really reality. This exposes the readers to more evidence of what Lisa is able to do and/or see.

“ Mick pushed us off, as …. said, lowering my arm. ”  ( p. 91 paragraphs 7-10 )

These are other paragraphs that show us how Lisa is different from other people. Lisa and her uncle Mick are on a speedboat, going to Kemano to enjoy the ocean. When she turns to look at a nearby shore, she sees a boy with his father waving at her. She waves back at them, but her uncle doesn’t see them. This proves that Lisa certainly has some sort of power to see people and things that other people can’t. Another point in these paragraphs is Lisa and her uncle Mick’s relationship. Lisa looks up to her uncle and admires what he does, she somewhat wants a life like that when she grows up, but mostly they have common interests that pull them close together. Lisa meeting and knowing more of her uncle Mick builds the climate of the book and gives Lisa another important person in the book to care about.

Part 2 :

“ Ma-ma-oo glanced at me ….. get hunches? ”  ( p.153 paragraphs 1-11 )

This is an important passage in the book because it reveals significant and approving information about Lisa’s powers from her grandma Ma-ma-oo. They are alone in the forest and Ma-ma-oo and Lisa start to talk about having visions of the spirit world, that it runs in the females of their family line. Ma-ma-oo tells Lisa that those visions are real and she isn’t mentally crazy or anything. With her satisfaction of her visions,  Lisa shares more of her experiences and how it impacts her life with Ma-ma-oo. This builds a stronger bond between them and now Lisa knows that she has someone to share her secret with. Lisa also wonders why her mom didn’t tell her about this when she first knew about her dreams and visions. This approves the readers’ suspicions of Lisa’s powers.

“ ‘ Lisa. ’ It was fainter ….. crows cawing. ”  ( p.260 paragraphs 1-around the middle of 2 )

These paragraphs show more of Lisa’s life towards drugs, smoking, alcohol, partying, and relationships with her friends and her attitude towards life and people around her. Lisa is in a scene where she is surrounded by crows, they ask her to join them and ask for her meat. This is one of the times out of the whole book when she enters the spirit world willingly even though Lisa is somewhat unconscious, but she still remembers what she is doing. Before this, she would refuse any interactions with the spirit world and wished she never had the ability that she had.. The reason behind this is that she no longer cares about her life as much as she used to, instead of fighting against it she just let her life flow by on its own.

Part 3 :

“ You almost got killed  ….. I was hallucinating. ”  ( p. 300 paragraphs 13-15 and all of  p. 301 )

This is another mystery in the book that asks both Lisa and the readers are events like this just dreams or did they actually happen? Lisa is talking to Tab at a diner and confused if she is seeing Tab in real life or in her afterlife. This time, she doesn’t even know herself if this is a hallucination or not. Another example of these occurrences is Lisa’s dream of seeing Jimmy at Monkey Beach, this affects Lisa’s judgement of Jimmy, her powers, her life and other decisions throughout the book. This may have been because Lisa misses Tab and hasn’t seen her in long time.

“ Jimmy dragged ….. enough for a wedding. ” ( p. 358 paragraphs 6-13    p. 359 paragraphs 1-9 )

This gives the readers more insight of what Jimmy’s personality and character. Jimmy’s feelings for Karaoke grows stronger and he wants something more with her. He shares this with Lisa and soon finds determination for a job that will help him raise enough money for their wedding. This also started Jimmy’s fishing trip that lead to his disappearance. This shows Jimmy’s great determination and passion for the things that he wants and strives for, such as his swimming and Karaoke. Also, this is what Lisa and her parents believe in that will take Jimmy home.

Part 4 :

“ The tide rocks the kelp ……. down my arms. ”   ( p. 372 paragraph 6 )

This paragraph is part of Lisa’s journey through the spirit world. Lisa sees Jimmy in the spirit world but doesn’t know if he is dead or not, hoping that he isn’t. As their hands meet, Lisa feels warmth going through her. Seeing Jimmy again gives Lisa hope that he is still out there but also pushes Lisa to do anything she can to find him, even if it means going further into the spirit world which Ma-ma-oo warned her would be too risky. Mostly, Jimmy gave Lisa hope that he might still be alive and helps her to probably want to think about her future life and career, better than her experiences with alcohol, partying, drugs and things like that, which was caused by deaths and people around her.

“ Early evening night …..  sound of a speedboat. ”  ( p.374 paragraph 4 )

This is the last paragraph of the novel and it describes a beautiful sunset imagery. Lisa is enjoying the world around her, the beauty of nature. This is very alike paragraph 1 of p. 135, the scenery and the meaning, such as the crows, the seals, the sky, and the sound of the speedboat. The earlier paragraph happened after Lisa knew about her uncle Mick’s death, this caused a huge impact to her because of their close relationship. Both paragraphs happen after Lisa experiences the loss of a close family member. The bigger meaning behind this paragraph is that death is hard and watching someone experiencing it is even harder, but no matter what, life goes on and doesn’t stop until God lets it. These paragraphs didn’t occur with Ma-ma-oo’s death because Lisa was able to get over it quickly without the help of alcohol and drugs like the other two times.

Part 3:                       Discussion Questions:

Chapter 1:

What is Lisa’s reason for staying behind in Kitamaat, Aunt Trudy’s house instead of looking for Jimmy like her parents?

Why is Lisa remembering everything instead of only remembering Jimmy and the reason he disappeared?

Why does Lisa’s mom sound depressed? (pg. 84)

In the present Lisa words everything as if Jimmy died. Does she know if Jimmy died?

Does the constant switching of the past and present exposition hold a reason of why it is included? For example, why not skip through the parts that aren’t important to the plot like how Mick reacts to Elvis’s death? Or about the B’gwus?

How did Josh’s boat sink?

In the past, Ma-ma-oo and Trudy are arguing about Josh. Why are they arguing over Josh?

Lisa had visions, weird dreams and hallucinations in this chapter. Could they have a greater secret?

The book hints that Jimmy learned how to swim, and if the book suggests this, and Josh’s boat sunk with him, could it reveal that Jimmy survived the sinkage?

Lisa remembers a ‘little man’ tormenting her through her childhood. It suggests it is hallucinations/dreams, what is it?

Chapter 2:

Did Mick’s death affect Lisa in a greater way?

Is there a bigger reason why Lisa joined Frank’s gang? Could it possibly be related to Mick’s death and/or Tab moving to Vancouver?

Could Lisa be jealous of Tab’s tattoo and boyfriend?

Why didn’t, after countless experiences with spiritual encounters, did neither Lisa nor Lisa’s mom tell each other about their experiences with the spiritual?

Who would Lisa choose if Frank, Cheese and Pooch all asked her out on a date at once? [seriously?]

Would Lisa have been able to prevent Ma-ma-oo’s death if the plot demanded it?

Chapter 3:

Why did Lisa turn to alcohol, drugs and partying instead of a safer emotional outlet?

Did Lisa really see the Sasquatch or is she imagining things? (p316)

Did Lisa’s lack of sleep affect her in ways that she is beginning to imagine things?

Why didn’t Lisa offer meat from shops and instead offer her own blood?

Why does the book focus partly on the B’gwus (Sasquatch) for the beginning of the book and also for some time in this chapter?

If Lisa didn’t go to the party and didn’t see Jimmy how would it change the outcome of the book?

If Jimmy never started dating Adeline would he still end up being in the ship accident?

Did the “fishing trip” with Lisa do any good for Jimmy? Did it affect their relationship

Do the crows have a significant part in the story?

Why didn’t Lisa meet up with her parents like she said she would in the beginning of the book?

Chapter 4:

What are the trees? What do they represent?

What is their reason for asking Lisa for “meat”?

Is Lisa mentally stable and not realizing she isn’t?

Where is Lisa at the end of the book?

Did Jimmy try to send a message to Lisa in the land of the dead? If so, what is the message that he is trying to send, not only that, but considering that it IS the land of the dead, does it confirm that Jimmy is indeed dead?

Are the tree spirits trying to help Lisa? Or is there a different motive?

Why is the title of the book “Monkey Beach”?

Is Jimmy alive or dead?

Ma-ma-oo old Lisa to go back, is it because she is almost absorbed into the false reality?

Part 4:                              Connections

(6 from each - 2 of each - 24 total)

Part One:

1. The book “I Am the Cheese” by Robert Cormier has a similar plot to “Monkey Beach”. Both of these books include constant flashbacks to the past. Both protagonists go through a journey of finding themselves with the help of friends and family members. They both go through constant flashbacks of the past.

2. Another book that “Monkey Beach” relates to is “What We All Long For” by Dionne Brand. In both books, the brother of the protagonist is lost at sea. The protagonist in both books also share many similarities. One similarity is that they’re both girls with a secret. Lisa can see dead spirits and Thuyen is a closeted lesbian. They both want to be accepted by family and friends. Their struggles include being misunderstood by others. Both of these books are about the protagonists finding themselves.

3. “Malakhi Chijiu - Ghosh: Missing Boy Found by Officer” is a report about a boy that went missing and was found by a police officer. Jimmy went missing.

4. “Missing Preston Teenagers” is a report about two teenagers who went missing at a community center. They’re still not found yet. Jimmy went missing and he still wasn’t found yet.

5. While Lisa’s brother, Jimmy, is missing, Lisa becomes depressed as she reminisces about her time spent with Jimmy. This makes me wonder what I would do if my brother went missing. How would I grieve? What thoughts will go through my head?

6. In the book, Jimmy fed the crows. I remember when I went to a beach and fed the crows that flew around the shore.

Part Two:  

7. Lisa’s decision to go to Monkey Beach reminded me of a “Percy Jackson” book. In both books, Percy experienced dreams that are supposedly sent by the gods. Lisa experienced dreams that were probably sent by the spirit world. Both of these characters had dreams that impacted how they live and what actions they make.

8. Lisa shares a lot of similarities with Alaska from “Looking for Alaska” by John Green. Both protagonists have dealt with a death of a loved one that has had an impact on their life. They both started off as bubbly and nice then with time, they turned into miserable and grief-stricken people. The characters both shared a habit of smoking copious amounts of cigarettes.

9. Lisa is the only one who could see the red haired spirit. This made me think of a connection to “Casper the Friendly Ghost” In “Casper the Friendly Ghost”, Wendy is the only person who can see Casper, just like how Lisa is the only one who could see spirits.

10. The argument between Lisa and Erica reminded me of a scene between Piper and Pennstucky in the TV show, “Orange is the New Black”.

11. Lisa is close with her grandmother. When Lisa’s grandmother died, she didn’t show any emotion. Lisa is hiding her emotions and not letting anyone know that she is sad. Although I am not close with my grandma, I would be sad if she died. Lisa and I are similar because I would also hide my emotions and not let anyone know that I am sad.

12. Lisa and Jimmy’s relationship reminded of my relationship that I shared with my older sister when she started high school. My sister shared some of Lisa’s high school experience. They were both isolated and didn’t like to tell their parents about their life. I guess in some way they were both independent. Between Lisa and Jimmy, I was more of a Jimmy. The characteristics that Jimmy and I share is we’re both athletic, social, and more open with our parents.

Part Three:

13. I think that Jimmy sunk Josh's boat to kill him was because Jimmy was filled with rage. Jimmy thinks that the only way to fix what had happened is to kill Josh. This reminded me of what the world is filled with; the need to get "revenge". Jimmy wanted to take revenge on Josh because he raped Karaoke, Jimmy's girlfriend.

14. The transitions between the world of the dead and the real world seems very unstable. This is like how society is unstable when it comes to the fear of spirits and the curiosity of "another world".

15. The grief of Lisa is represented by her reentry into the spirit world, she feels like she is trapped because she can't return to reality. The crows represent the grief overcoming her. This reminded me of a book I read about a girl who discovers a different world after the death of someone dear.

16. The blood she bares in the ritual to connect to the world of the dead could be seen as a metaphor for the sacrifices she makes to find the answers she needs. Her final sacrifices shows her what she needs to learn and was willing to give up everything (her sanity and blood) as a last resort to discover herself and find answers.

Part Four:

17. Lisa says that she's in East Vancouver. Britannia is located in East Vancouver. I feel like I can connect to the story more knowing that I know the area.

18. Lisa partied a lot then she sobered up. This is like when a friend of mine was doing bad in school then she started trying harder.

19. Lisa is trying hard in school, and she has trouble with math. This connects to me on how I'm struggling with math.

20. When Lisa brings Jimmy to Monkey Beach to get some space, this reminded me of the book "Virals" by Kathy reichs because they both travel to an island by boat.

21. Lisa is reminded of herself when she sees Jimmy partying.

22. I think that Karaoke aborted her child. The story then becomes cliché and I can connect the plot to some other cliché novels.