Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Letter of Forgiveness”

In this activity, students will write forgiveness letters to people, places, things, or ideas.

Throughout the novel, Nanapush encourages Lulu to forgive Fleur for sending Lulu to a boarding school. The novel ends without clarifying whether Lulu offers this forgiveness to Fleur. The act of forgiveness is often characterized as something that frees the forgiver from the past rather than something intended for the object of the apology.

• Consider past wrongs you may be holding onto. An injury may have caused your retirement from a sport, and you need to forgive your body. You may have made a mistake, and you need to forgive yourself. You may be in conflict with another, and you need to forgive that person. You may also be in conflict with an idea such as gender stereotypes, and you need to forgive those who have imposed the stereotypes upon you.
• Write a letter of forgiveness to this audience with an opening, body, and conclusion. Use sensory language and be specific about the wrong, its effect on you, and your forgiveness.