Before you read In the Sanctuary of Outcasts, what did you think of when you heard the word “leper”? Did the book change your impressions?
White began his publishing career fighting for underdogs and the disadvantaged. What happened to those initial hopes? How can someone else escape the “success” trap that ensnared White and so many others?
“For as long as my children could remember, I had ignored fences and boundaries and rules. Nothing much had prevented me from getting what I wanted, and I made my children know it,” White admits. How did this attitude land him in Carville? Do you see a correlation between White’s attitude and that of our wider society? How did White eventually break free from this kind of thinking?
White came into contact with a variety of diverse characters during his year Carville, including Ella, Link, Doc, Jimmy Hoffa’s lawyer, Frank Ragano, Jimmy Harris, Steve Read. Talk about some of these people. What role did they play in White’s life while he was there? What did he learn from each of them?
White looked forward to seeing another leprosy patient, Sister Teresa Pazosas. Though the disease had ravaged her nose and fingers, “just being in her presence made me feel light and peaceful,” White writes. “I didn’t fully understand why she had that effect on me, but I was beginning to feel certain about one thing. Carville was a sacred space.” What made Carville a sacred place? Why was White able to see what many of the other inmates could not?
Why was White so drawn to Ella? What was the importance of the Coke bottle story?
What lessons did prison teach White?
