Discussion Guide for New Boy
The following are questions that can be used in guiding a discussion about the film New Boy.
1. Do you think Joseph’s experience at his new school is the first time he truly experienced being “new”?
2. Why do you think the memory of Joseph’s father was so ever-present?
3. Why do you think Joseph didn’t tell on his classmates when the teacher repeatedly asked what happened?
4. Do you think the teacher handled the situation well? Explain.
5. Should she have listened to Hazel when Hazel tried to tell her what happened?
6. What things did his classmates say that had double meanings for Joseph?
7. Do you think Joseph’s father would have approved of his finger-twisting response to the class bullies? Explain.
8 . Is there anything you think Joseph should have done differently on that first day of school?
9. By the time many people are adults, being new is no longer a new experience, yet it CAN repeatedly evoke the same first-time anxieties. Why?
