A Year Down Yonder

Though notorious in family lore (and in her small town) as freewheeling and rebellious—even anti-social—Grandma Dowdel shows herself to be strict, rule abiding, and civically conscious in other ways. Analyze Grandma’s character, tracing Mary Alice’s shifting understanding of the woman throughout the novel to examine the roots of this seeming paradox.

Arriving in Grandma’s town from Chicago, Mary Alice must adjust to a rural landscape and culture much different from the ones she knows. How does Mary Alice’s understanding of small-town life change over the course of the novel? How does her relationship with the natural world change as well?

Both the American Legion Auxiliary and the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) are organizations founded to honor veterans of American wars. In Peck’s novel, however, the local chapter of the lineage-based DAR is portrayed much differently from the ladies of the Legion Auxiliary. Compare and contrast the two, as well as Grandma’s attitude toward each.