The Other Side of the Sky

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. At the end of her memoir, we have the sense that Ahmedi has filled her father’s shoes and made great sacrifices to support her family.

• Compare Ahmedi with her father. How are they similar in temperament and upbringing? (topic sentence)
• Analyze 3 or more moments from the text in comparing and contrasting Ahmedi with her father in defense of your topic sentence.
• In your conclusion, explain how the novel’s theme of A Woman’s Place in the World relates to the similarities and differences between Ahmedi and her father.

2. The negative impacts of the Taliban on Ahmedi’s life are obvious, but The Other Side of the Sky provides us with little information to understand the Taliban.

• Given the devastation the Taliban emerged from, and the further destruction that they created, what kinds of questions would help one understand the Taliban? (topic sentence)
• Describe 3 specific ways that the Taliban’s influence directly touched Ahmedi’s life. How do these moments reflect the Taliban’s role in a larger political ecosystem within Afghanistan?
• In your conclusion, summarize how the Taliban impacted Ahmedi’s experience as an Afghan. How does this relate to the novel’s themes of A Woman’s Place in the World and The Vulnerability and Resourcefulness of Refugees?

3. Ahmedi’s passage from Afghanistan resembles the hero’s journey in various myths.

• What is a “hero’s journey”? (topic sentence)
• What specific aspects of Ahmedi’s story mark it as a “hero’s journey”? Cite 3 or more examples from the text in your response.
• In your conclusion, make a broader assessment about how the refugee and immigrant experience in general share certain aspects of the “hero’s journey” and how this relates to one of the novel’s themes of The Vulnerability and Resourcefulness of Immigrants or Culture Clash and the Immigrant Experience.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by textual details, and a conclusion.

1. Explain the range of psychological and emotional states that Ahmedi has after the landmine accident. In assessing Ahmedi’s psychology/emotions over the course of The Other Side of the Sky, examine the role that the novel’s themes Placing Faith in God’s Hands and Education Opens Up the Whole World play in her overcoming of the more difficult psychological/emotional states. Provide three or more examples of this from the text.

2. The events of September 11, 2001 are part of the context for The Other Side of the Sky. The post-9/11 period is generally regarded as a moment in American history when anti-Muslim racism was observable throughout the country. And yet, Ahmedi never mentions it in her discussion of acclimating on life in the US—why do you think that is? In your response, describe how Ahmedi needed to adjust to life in the US on many fronts and relate it to either the theme of A Woman’s Place in the World or Culture Clash and the Immigrant Experience. How might her experiences have left her blind to the Islamophobia around her?