Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. There is an apparent contradiction between Korede’s career in nursing and her role as an accessory to Ayoola’s crimes.

• How does Korede’s career in nursing make her activities related to Ayoola’s crimes paradoxical in one sense, but perfectly understandable in another? (topic sentence)
• Give at least two examples of how Korede’s role as an accessory to murder seems to conflict with her career in nursing.
• Give at least two examples of what, upon closer examination, makes Korede’s role as an accessory to murder a natural extension of her career in nursing.
• In your concluding sentence(s), explain how this apparent paradox relates to the novel’s thematic interest in Family Dynamics and Contemporary Nigerian Society.