Gender Roles
Love and Relationships
Culture
History
Characters
100
Who stood up to the men who came to the door looking for Tamils?
Sylvia Sunethra
100
What character was enthralled with marrying off her children?
Beatrice Muriel
100
What does “spoiled” mean?
Loss of purity from being raped.
“No one will ever again speak of Appa’s daughter spoiled by the soldiers” (pg. 192).
“It means to be broken. It means forever” (pg. 153).
100
How long was the conflict?
26 years - 1983-2009
100
Who is narrating part one of the book?
Yasodhara
200
How did women change after they joined the LTTE?
They were stripped of their femininity and their identity was taken from them.: “We are Tigers now, fully formed and as our men, dog tags on our wrists, throats, and waist because we are not afraid to die cut up or blown to pieces…I am fearless, I am free” (pgs. 184-185).
“When I go inside, Amma is waiting with scissors in hand. I sit on the ground in front of her and she takes them to my head” (pg. 160).
“Their women hover in the background, casting sidelongs eyes at us - the female cadres with our weapons, our cinch-waisted uniforms and rugged boots” (pg. 189).
200
How was Shiva’s relationship with Yasodhara and Lanka different?
Shiva and Yasodhara liked each other as kids but were separated. He turned to Lanka because she returned to Sri Lanka and reminded him of Yasodhara. After Lanka dies, Yasodhara and Shiva find each other again and are bonded by the trauma.
“You left, she came back. She was all I had left of you of any of you” (pg.208).
“When he has these dreams, its her name he whispers” (pg. 225).
“After the fires, after she was burned, all we wanted was each other” (pg. 226).
200
What is each ethnic group represented by on the Sri Lankan Flag?
Lion: Sinhala
Orange stripe: Tamil
200
Was there a peacekeeping mission in Sri Lanka?
No
200
Who was the female character who joined the LTTE?
Saraswathi
300
Why are women chosen to be suicide bombers?
They wouldn’t be suspected: “When he leaves, I turn to my reflection and see what others will see, a young woman, eight months pregnant, green plastic bangles at her wrists, bright orange cloth hugging her belly” (pg. 211).
300
What role did Siddharth’s culture play in his relationships?
He wanted to please his parents and separate himself from traditional ideals within his culture.
“She is tall and blond, slim and svelte as a Prada model, all sharp lines and efficiency, poreless perfection in tailored clothing. He cries and says it is no use, he’s in love with her” (pg. 174).
“‘My parents. They wanted so much to see me with a Sri Lankan girl’” (pg. 174).
300
How did Yasodhara’s attitude about Sri Lanka change over the course of the book?
At first she is prideful of being Sri Lankan. After Lanka’s death she is resentful of her homeland.
“Inside, La and I stifle giggles. She thinks we are Indians. We have never even been to India!” (pg 112-113).
“These days, I do not even speak of that place to myself. There is no thread of life I want to follow there. The ocean does not call to me. I no longer long for those myriad shades of green. The island dropped from me the moment I left it framed in the airplane porthole. This is the only way we may survive” (pg. 227).
300
What ethnicity is affiliated with Buddhism?
Sinhalnese
300
Who adopted a Tamil child?
Mala
400
Who did the LTTE target and how did this change as the conflict progressed?
Started with boys, then started taking girls, then took any child they could.
“The tigers had come to our schoolroom. They showed us videos of what the Sinhala do to our people” (pg. 131).
“Trucks and motorcycles raise clouds of maroon dust and Tiger-striped men and women flood the classroom” (pg. 145).
“When we leave, we take the children of the dead. We take the children of the disappeared. But we also take a child from every family. This is the price of war” (pg. 189).
400
Why did Yasodhara choose an arranged marriage?
Safety and fear of heartbreak.
“‘Why are you doing this?’ There is a catch in her voice. I decided to tell her the truth. ‘Because it’s safe and now more than anything I want safety. I can’t go through another heartbreak. I just want to be with somebody safe. Somebody who won’t leave’” (pg. 165).
400
What is the first cultural difference Yasodhara notices when she gets to America?
The quietness and lack of people.
“There is no one walking, no shops spilling into the street. There is no music, no car horns. It is all profoundly quiet, profoundly lonely” (pg. 98).
400
What is the capital of Sri Lanka?
Colombo
400
Which of the twins was referred to as “dark as a demon’s backside?"
Mala
500
What is the relationship between gender and citizenship?
Being an American citizen allowed you access to places you could not go without. It trumped gender.
At the first roundabout soldiers surrounded the car demanding identification papers. What is our business? Why are on the airport road as night falls? My sister turns in her seat. Chuckles when she sees my face. Waves her American passport like a precious fetish. “Don’t look so shocked, Akka. We are magic things after all. They keep us protected from all the madness” (pg. 198).
500
How did Saraswathi's perceptions of family change throughout the book?
After joining the LTTE she began to resent her family and felt misunderstood by them.
“I sit cross-legged as Amma’s deft fingers rake my scalp. She lets my hair fall across her arms, says, “So beautiful. Like the new monsoon clouds that the poets sang of” (pg. 147)
“My true family is back at camp, these are strangers I knew in a different time” (pg. 193).
500
How did the conflict transcend beyond borders to the Sri Lankan diaspora?
Members of the diaspora helped fund the war. They were also asked about the conflict from friends who didn’t understand the nuances of it.
“He shouts, ‘What are you going to do? Sit here and let these Tiger bastards take the country? How many of you are here because you got a free education in Sri Lanka? All of you buggers! Otherwise you would be in Colombo watching the Tigers ride in. You owe it to help stop them. The government can’t fight these bastards without our help” (pg 123).
“Suddenly friends who had never mentioned Sri Lanka bring it up.. They say, ‘aren’t the Tigers like freedom fighters… They wanted clear distinctions between the cowboys and the Indians, the corrupt administration and the valiant freedom fighters, the democratic government and the raging terrorists” (pg. 233).
500
What is the full title of the terrorist group?
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
500
Who died in a suicide bombing?
Lanka and Saraswathi