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Book Club Discussion Questions for Paper Bullets
To read some of Lucy and Suzanne’s notes, click here.
To see some of Lucy and Suzanne’s images, click here.
How is Paper Bullets a love story? How important was the relationship between Lucy and Suzanne in their decision to resist the German occupation? Could they have become resisters without one another’s inspiration and support?
Although Lucy did not practice the Jewish faith, and by tradition she would not have been considered Jewish, her Jewish background became important to her. What role did that identity play in her resistance?
Although Lucy and Suzanne found community among other same-sex couples in Paris, they often saw themselves as outsiders from mainstream society because of their sexual orientation. How did their sexuality inform their resistance?
How did the combination of Lucy’s Jewish identity and her queer identity affect how she thought about the Nazis? How did these parts of her identity help give her the ability and willingness to act?
Why do you think Suzanne has largely been forgotten in the story of their lives together?
Why would residents of Jersey want to repress the experience of resistance after the war?
What does Lucy and Suzanne’s story suggest about why and how people chose to resist German occupation? In the same situation, we all like to think we would do the same, but in reality, we would most likely not. What made Lucy and Suzanne different? What gave them the power put themselves at great personal risk, especially given their privileged backgrounds?
As the war went on, Lucy and Suzanne escalated their actions even as the German occupation dug in. Why do you think they became bolder in their resistance?
How did Lucy and Suzanne’s work as artists equip them to resist the Germans? Did they develop a visual vocabulary of resistance? What artistic techniques served them best?
What does Paper Bullets suggest about how art and life inform one another? How important was their creative work to their decision to resist?
How can Lucy and Suzanne inspire people today to stand up for their beliefs?
Although they always talked about acting on their own, several people helped Lucy and Suzanne in crucial ways in their lives (André Breton, Vera Wimshurst, Edna LeNeveu). Did Lucy and Suzanne fully appreciate how loved they were by others?
Lucy and Suzanne crossed gender boundaries to become the Soldier with no Name. How important was the idea of transgression to their story?
Unlike so many World War II stories, this one involves German soldiers who were relatively kind, at least to Lucy and Suzanne if not to those whom they saw as deserters from the army. What allowed Lucy and Suzanne to empathize with some of the occupiers?
Lucy and Suzanne’s notes penetrated the “private transcript” of the German occupation forces. What “public” and “private” transcripts do you experience in your life? How might you react if someone got “inside your head” in the way that Lucy and Suzanne did?
What does Paper Bullets suggest about the importance of who controls information and how it can shape our perceptions of reality? Does Lucy’s “indirect effect” help explain the ways in which information flow today can work its way into our consciousness?