HEROES AND VILLAINS: STUDY GUIDE FOR
THE LENNY MOSS NOVELS
1. What is a hero?
Do you think individuals are naturally heroic, or are they
pushed into taking courageous steps by circumstances?
Discuss what makes Lenny Moss a heroic leader and why
so many co-workers look up to him.
Do you have the kind of courage that Lenny has? What IS
courage?
2. What is a villain?
Are they bad people because they are greedy? Because
they are insane? Because they think they are entitled to
extra privileges due to some special gift? Write about
someone you know at work or in your neighborhood who
acts like a villain. Can anything be done to stop the
injustice that the villain causes?
3. What is a friend?
What role do Lenny's friends play in his solution to the
mystery? Ask yourself if he could overcome his problems
on his own. When Lenny is fighting to survive at the
hands of the villain, why do his friends help him in the
"final showdown?" Think about how this kind of hero is
different from the James Bond/John McClain/Indiana
Jones type of hero. Which story is more realistic in your
mind?
4. What is a boss?
Is the hospital administration made of bad people, or are
they driven to make bad decisions by the marketplace?
Hospitals today compete for paying customers; they face
lower fees from government and private insurance while
prices for the equipment and staff go up and up. Are they
forced to make bad decisions to stay in business? What is
the role of fierce competition on how businesses are run?
5. Are happy endings real?
Most people enjoy a happy ending, where the bad person
is punished and the man and woman in love end up
happy and together. But life doesn't always turn out this
way. Would you enjoy reading a crime novel in which the
killer goes unpunished? In which the hero dies? What kind
of endings do we prefer in fiction, and why do we prefer
them?
6. What makes a character?
I am just like __________________ (pick a character).
Explain how you resemble the character.
7. Life is struggle.
Write a story about how you fight to make life better for
yourself and your coworkers on your job. Do the workers
on your job have problems like Lenny and his friends do?
How could you and they make working conditions better?
8. What is a trade union? Why do we have them? Are
they necessary? Do they make life better for the workers?
For the customers/patients? For the administration? Write
an essay about the relation between worker and
supervisor and how they could work together in greater
harmony.
LESSON PLANS FOR THE LENNY MOSS NOVELS
1. CHARACTERS & PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS:
Lenny has many friends among the hospital workers. They love and
respect him, and they are willing to help him in his murder
investigation.
STUDY QUESTIONS:
Why do so many people like Lenny? Do you know anybody like
Lenny on your job?
Why do they help him with his investigation, even though it puts
their job in jeopardy?
Lenny is not tall or good looking, but women seem to go for him.
Why is that? Would you want to date Lenny? What do you look for
in a partner in life/soul mate/lover/friend?
WRITING EXERCISE:
Write a 1-2 page account of a problem you had on the job.
Describe the role of any co-worker who helped you with your
problem.
Lenny and his co-workers have some things in common that unite
them, and some things not in common that divide them. They often
bend the rules to help one another. They recognize a common
threat to their job: Security Chief Joe West.
STUDY QUESTIONS:
What is more important in their lives: their common interests or
their differences?
Why does Jose West always make trouble for Lenny and his
friends?
WRITING EXERCISE
Write a 1-2 paage essay on what things you have in common with
your work mates or with your fellow students. Describe the things
that unite you and the things that divide you. Consider what you
might do to build solidarity within the group.
2. CONFLICT WITH MANAGEMENT
Security Chief Joe West is out to get rid of Lenny Moss. He watches
to see that the the hospital workers punch a time clock when they
come to and leave work. He is ready to write someone up and fire
them for violating the rules.
Unlike Joe West, Lenny is totally dedicated to helping his co-
workers, even with problems that are not strictly related to the
contract.
STUDY QUESTIONS:
Why does Lenny care so much about his co-workers?
Why is Gary Tuttle, an RN, less enthusiastic about helping Lenny
than the other hospital workers?
What is the role of the union steward on the job?
Do you think unions help the workers? Do you think they hurt the
company? Why do you think so?
WRITING EXERCISE:
Write a short essay on the question: Would I risk my job to help a
union steward or a friend with a work issue? If I would not, why not?
What would happen if workers never supported their union steward?
What would happen to the union? To work conditions? To your job?
3. RACE RELATIONS AT WORK AND IN AMERICA
A security guard searched Regis Devoe’s bag at the exit but did not
search the white doctor’s bag. Devoe was guilty of “walking while
black.”
STUDY QUESTIONS
Was Devoe justified in arguing with the doctor?
Why did the police quickly accuse Regis Devoe of murder? Were
they justified? Should they have looked at other suspects?
How dId Lenny develop a circle of friends that is multi-racial and
multi-ethnic?
WRITING EXERCISE
Write a short essay on the question: Is multi-racial unity unusual in
America? If so, why is that? Describe your friends and their different
backgrounds. Outside school and work, are all your friends from the
same ethnic group? If not, why not? If so, how did you come to have
such friends?
4. STORY TELLING
The crime novel is built around a “sympathetic character with a
problem". In solving the problem (finding the killer) the protagonist
(Lenny) seeks help among the hospital workers. Some help him;
some hinder him. In the end Lenny solves his problem.
STUDY QUESTONS
Why do we feel sympathy for Lenny and his quest, and anger for
Joe West?
What kind of hero brings out your sympathy? Why do you care
about him?
What other problems drive the stories that you have read?
WRITING EXERCISE
Write a short story with a sympathetic character working on a
problem. It may be a true story based on an experience at work or in
your neighborhood, or it may be a fictional story. Let the protagonist
encounter people along the way who sometimes help and sometime
hinder the hero.
Your protagonist may be successful (a “comedy”), may fail “a
tragedy”), or may fail at solving the original problem but may
succeed in something else. This makes a complex ending (“bitter
sweet”) – a powerful form of story telling.
Read your story in class and ask your fellow students to tell you if
they related to your protagonist and your other characters. What
made it "real" for them? What did not ring true?
How many times will you have to rewrite your story based on
feedback from students and teacher before it is "finished'? Once?
Twice? Twenty times? The answer is: just enough to make it perfect.