Natalia’s grandfather seems to be a completely unsuperstitious, irreligious man. Yet he bequeaths two powerful, mythical folktales to her: stories that have shaped the man he is. He chooses to relate his biography, his inheritance to her, in the form of folktales, rather than as straight autobiography. Why does he do this? What is Obreht saying about the power of such stories? How do they transcend or explain the human condition? 

The Balkan wars of the 1990s are a backdrop of the entire novel, and the tiger’s wife story occurs as the Germans advance through Eastern Europe during World War II. What is Obreht saying about war and ethnic conflict?

Natalia does not learn the tiger’s wife story until after her grandfather’s death. What is the significance in his leaving the story of the tiger’s wife for her to find? What does he want her to learn about him? How does the tiger’s wife story change Natalia’s view of her grandfather?