Fire from the Rock

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. Throughout the novel, Sylvia grapples with multiple perspectives and reasons why she should or should not attend Central High School as an integrationist.

• Which factors weighed the heaviest in Sylvia’s ultimate decision? (topic sentence)
• Describe 2-3 major events or conversations that influenced Sylvia’s decision-making. What messages did those events and conversations send to readers?
• In your concluding paragraph, explain what was at stake for Sylvia and the Little Rock Nine. What would they lose by attending Central High School? What would they gain?

2. Draper writes the novel’s main action from the third-person point of view, but she adds complexity by giving Sylvia a voice via her journal entries.

• How does the constant shift between first and third person impact the novel overall? (topic sentence)
• Provide multiple examples of how the first-person or third-person perspective were effective in telling the story.
• In your final paragraph, explain how the novel would have been more or less effective if it were written from only one point of view.

Full Essay Assignments

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

1. How does Draper illustrate the complex conversations Black people were having about school integration during the integration period in Little Rock, Arkansas?

2. How does Draper explore cross-racial/cross-cultural friendships in the novel? How do those complexities fuel both the plot and character development?

3. How does this novel complicate the summarized historical narrative that many are taught about school integration today? What kinds of questions does it raise for you as a reader?