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. As evidenced throughout Money Hungry, Raspberry’s experience with the trauma of homelessness deeply affects her relationship with money.

• In what ways does the trauma Raspberry experienced being without a home affect how she feels about money? (topic sentence)
• Citing no less than two examples from the text, describe how the memory of her experience being homeless with her mother influences her motivations around money.
• In your conclusion, discuss how The Lasting Effects of Poverty and Financial Insecurity have shaped Raspberry’s relationship with money. Is Raspberry’s desire for money related more to greed or to a desire for stability?

2. Raspberry and her entire friend group—Mai, Ja’nae, and Zora—each face their own different kind of hardships throughout the novel.

• What different type of struggles (socioeconomic, issues related to identity, issues with their parents, etc.) does each girl face? (topic sentence)
• How do the girls change as a result of their hardships? Discuss three (3) examples of moments in the text when the girls are confronted with their struggles.
• In your conclusion, discuss how, as the girls navigate conflict, they discover things about themselves and each other. In facing their struggles together as a group, how do they show The Endurance of Friendship Through Conflict?

3. Momma is fiercely independent and therefore resists help from others throughout Money Hungry.

• How does Momma’s resistance to depending on others for help affect her and Raspberry’s lives? (topic sentence)
• Examine at least two moments in the text when Momma refuses to accept help. What is her motivation for doing so?
• In your conclusion, discuss how Momma’s refusal to accept help is a kind of reaction to trauma. How might it be a result of The Lasting Effects of Poverty and Financial Insecurity?

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. Consider Raspberry’s relationship to money and how it evolves throughout the novel. Raspberry states multiple times in the text some variation of the idea that “if you got money, people can’t take stuff from you—not your house, or your ride, not your family. They can’t do nothing much to you, if you got a bankroll backing you up” (Chapter 4). Is this proven to be true? Why or why not? Is Raspberry’s desire for money a form of Greed, or is it a response to The Lasting Effects of Poverty and Financial Insecurity? Is it both these things at the same time?

2. Momma’s and Raspberry’s outlooks on money and financial security differ. How do their different methods affect and shape their relationship? As evidenced through each of their characters, how do they demonstrate two different types of responses to The Lasting Effects of Poverty and Financial Insecurity? In your response, cite at least two moments from the text when Raspberry and Momma show vastly different feelings around their relationship to money.

3. What is the symbolic meaning of Raspberry’s recurring dream? How does the meaning of this dream show Raspberry’s ongoing anxiety about her past? Conduct a line-by-line analysis of the dream, and then contextualize the dream within the larger plot of the novel: At what points does the dream occur? In your essay, be sure to explain how Raspberry’s dream is a kind of haunting, one that speaks to The Lasting Effects of Poverty and Financial Insecurity.