Comprehension Questions
Poetic Language
Perspective
Voice
Symbols
100
How Kek feels when he first arrives in America.
What is out of place, nervous, hopeful?
100
Hannah's laugh is described as "like bells on a windy day." This shows the reader this about Hannah.
What is that she is cheerful and welcoming?
100
This past experience impacts Kek's perspective of the American grocery store.
What is watching a baby die of starvation?
100
The words a character chooses, the way they say things.
What is voice?
100
A recurring image that stands for a big idea in a text.
What is a symbol?
200
The name Kek chooses for the cow, Gol, means this.
What is "family"?
200
When Kek buys Hannah chocolate for Valentine's Day, it says, "My own heart grows so big with pride I fear it might pop open like a ripe seedpod." This shows that Kek feels this emotion very strongly.
What is pride in his gift?
200

Hannah's experience with her mother affects her perspective on Kek quitting Lou's farm in this way.

What is that she knows how much it hurts when someone you love leaves, so she understands that Kek doesn't want to go back?

200

When Lou tells Ganwar, "Well, I guess you'll have to use the other one," about his missing hand, her choice of language shows that she is this kind of person.

What is practical, doesn't feel sorry for herself, funny (all reasonable answers accepted)?

200
To Kek, cows symbolize this.
What is family and home and pride?
300
Kek and Gol have this in common.
What is they are both lonely, in need of love, and recently lost someone close to them?
300
The simile, "Ganwar's words lie in my lap like huge rocks I am not strong enough to move," shows that Kek is feeling this.
What is sad, defeated, helpless?
300
When Kek runs away, he doesn't say goodbye. This experience from his past makes him hate goodbyes.
What is the war in Sudan (losing his entire family)?
300
When Kek says, "You would not believe it! They teach you and feed you and I have my own desk," about school, his word choice and the way he says things tells the reader this about his character.
What is that Kek is enthusiastic, happy, and excited?
300
The small piece of cloth Kek carries in his pocket symbolizes this.
What is his past and his hope that he will be reunited with his mom?
400
The reason Kek quits working on Lou's farm.
What is that he is mad that Lou wants to move away and leave him?
400
When Kek is at the grocery store he says, "I stand like a tree rooted firm, my eyes too full of this place with its answers to prayers on every shelf." This simile shows that Kek feels this emotion.
What is shock, confusion (other reasonable answers accepted)?
400
Kek's experiences in Sudan have impacted his perspective on life in America in these ways (name at least two).
He is used to violence due to the Sudanese Civil War as a result he has many violent dreams when he sleeps in the United States. He is has not gone to school consistently due to the Sudanese Civil War. Consequently, he values many parts of his American school: his desk, his teacher, the cafeteria food, his uniform etc.
400

When Hannah has Kek over, she says, "Sorry, it's a dump, I know. [She sighs.] My last foster parents were total neat freaks." Her voice shows that she feels this emotion.

What is that she is embarrassed?

400

Ganwar's scars, are called the   _____, and symbolize _____.

Ganwar's scars, are called the gaar, and symbolize manhood and becoming part of a Nuer culture.

500

What does the proverb, "When elephants fight it is the grass that suffers" mean?

"When elephants fight it is the grass that suffers" means that when people fight it's always the innocent one,s getting hurt at the end. I think she added this because as you go on in the story in the last chapter it tell us how Kek's father and brother died but they were innocent and did nothing wrong also maybe she was trying to give us a hint were the story is going to lead to.

500

The proverb at the beginning of the last section says, "A sandstorm passes; the stars remain." This proverb explains the ending of the book in this way.

What is it shows that the important things in life like family and friends are always there, even when things are tough.

500

Kek and Ganwar's perspectives are different in these ways (name at least two).

At the beginning of the novel Kek is hopeful and Ganwar is hopeless, that Kek is an optimist and Ganwar is a pessimist, that Kek keeps trying no matter what and Ganwar has given up...(all reasonable answers accepted)?

500

When Ganwar says, "I didn't come to this country to sweep floors...A man does not wear a paper hat and hand out ketchup packets," it tells the reader this about him.

What is that Ganwar is proud and hurt?

500
Snow in the story symbolizes this.
What is death and change, and the possibility of renewal?
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