They Cage the Animals at Night

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.

“The Foster Care System—Making Connections”

In this activity, students will review recent information on the foster care system in the US and, based on facts and statistics, make comparisons to the events and circumstances in They Cage the Animals at Night.

Jennings’s experiences in foster care, which took place in the late 1940s and 1950s, reveal situations of neglect and abuse. In this activity, investigate facts and statistics about the foster care system in more recent times and draw conclusions about changes since Jennings’s experiences, the challenges inherent in the system, and current needs for improvement. These and similar resources may be beneficial in getting started:

• Updated facts and statistics on the foster care system and those involved with it can be accessed in “Child Welfare and Foster Care Statistics,” maintained by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a national organization dedicated to the health and well-being of children and families.
• Youth.gov discusses concerns with those who move on to adulthood from the foster care system in “Young Adults Formerly in Foster Care: Challenges and Solutions.”
• The US Children’s Bureau maintains a 2023 site of key facts, awareness issues, and other resources from National Foster Care Month.
• Published in Social Policy Report in 2020, the scholarly journal article “Foster Care: How We Can, and Should, Do More for Maltreated Children,” details needed improvements in the foster care system.

In small groups of 3-4, review and discuss your research. How does the current foster care system seem to compare to the care situations Jennings experienced? What information do you think might represent an improvement since Jennings’s time in foster care, and in what ways are improvements still needed?

Teaching Suggestion: Due to the sensitive nature of the information presented in the resources, the Child Placement Agency’s recommendations on how to have sensitive, open discussions in the classrooms on matters involving foster care in “What School Staff Should Know About Foster Care” may be helpful. Independent work in which students can select their own topics for comparison might be offered as an alternate way to complete the activity.

Differentiation Suggestion: For college/adult classes who are interested in modern-day politics, students might read and discuss “Restricted Abortion Access Puts More Children in Foster Care: Study” published in Newsweek in November 2023. This article gives an up-to-date perspective on what some consider a “crisis” in the current foster care system. In addition to laws regarding abortion, what other type of laws might affect children in the foster care system?

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. Jennings writes They Cage the Animals at Night in the voice of a child.

• Why might Jennings have written the story in a child’s voice, as opposed to explaining the events from an adult perspective? (topic sentence)
• How does writing from this perspective enhance the book’s overall themes? Choice and discuss at least 3 strong examples of the author’s voice in the text to explore in support of your topic sentence.
• In your conclusion, briefly analyze how this perspective adds urgency to the book’s theme of The Abandonment and Isolation of Children.

2. Jennings has his own unique concept of “home” in They Cage the Animals at Night.  

• What defines a “home” for Jennings? (topic sentence)
• How is Jennings’s idea of home connected to family and friendship? Analyze and discuss at least 3 examples from the text.
• In your conclusion, paraphrase with deeper meaning the way in which “Home” Is Relative for Jennings.

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. Sal is a pivotal figure in Jennings’s development. What does Sal represent to Jennings, and why do the two form such a strong bond? In a 3- or 5- paragraph essay, discuss the extent to which Sal serves as an effective “father figure” to Jennings. Analyze and discuss at least 3 specific examples from the text in your essay; also, comment on how, as a transient figure, Sal connects to the book’s theme of The Ephemerality of Happiness and Comfort for Children in Foster Care.

2. What symbols and mechanisms does Jennings use to draw parallels between homes and prisons? What are the physical descriptors (e.g., bars and mesh wires in the window) that Jennings uses to aid in drawing the parallels between these two spaces? In a 3-paragraph essay, analyze and discuss this comparison and evaluate its efficacy for readers. Explore how this parallel contributes to the theme “Home” Is Relative.

Multiple Choice and Long Answer Questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, exams, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Which of the following events is the first moment in They Cage the Animals at Night when Jennings experiences abandonment?

A) Jennings’s mother abandons him at the Home of the Angels orphanage.

B) Jennings’s mother abandons him at the zoo.

C) Jennings’s father divorces his mother and leaves the family.

D) Jennings must sleep in a tent outside at the Home of the Angels.

2. Jennings is not only on the receiving end of abandonment; he also inflicts abandonment on others, as well. Which of the following moments is an example?

A) Jennings rejects Doggie when Sister Clair offers it to him.

B) Jennings turns away Stacy in the playroom.

C) Jennings leaves his friend Mark to play with Butch instead.

D) Jennings dismisses Butch’s attempts to become friends.

3. Which statement best describes Jennings’s experience with the Carpenter family?

A)The Carpenters are generally cold but caring toward Jennings.

B) The Carpenters are overwhelmed with other children; they neglect Jennings.

C) The Carpenters are warm and friendly; they teach Jennings real love.

D) The Carpenters are physically and verbally abusive toward Jennings.

4. Which of the following is the strongest representation of the theme of The Abandonment and Isolation of Children in the first section of the book?

A) Just after being reunited with Mark and Butch, Jennings is forced to leave them.

B) Sister Frances—Jennings’s favorite nun—ignores him at lunch.

C) The Carpenters accidentally leave Jennings at the grocery store. 

D) Stacy rejects Jennings when he offers her a hug.

5. Which of the following statements best describes what Doggie symbolizes?

A) Jennings’s breaking the cycle of neglect and abandonment

B) Jennings’s betrayal of his mother

C) Jennings’s being trapped in a state of perpetual childhood

D) Jennings’s commitment to animal welfare

6. What technique does Jennings deploy in the perspective of They Cage the Animals at Night, which underscores themes around The Abandonment and Isolation of Children?

A) He writes from the first-person perspective of Mark and himself.

B) He uses third-person narrative to write from an emotionless, detached perspective.

C) He writes with child-like language from a child’s perspective.

D) He occasionally writes from the (imagined) first-person perspective of his mother.

7. Jerome’s attitude toward the hospital is most directly related to which of the book’s themes and/or motifs?

A) “Home” Is Relative

B) The Abandonment and Isolation of Children

C) The Ephemerality of Happiness and Comfort for Children in Foster Care

D) Prisons and Zoos

8. Relative to Jennings’s life, what do Sal and Mr. Frazier have in common?

A) They both betray Jennings’s trust.

B) They both have inappropriate relationships with Jennings’s mother.

C) They inflict masochistic, emotional abuse upon Jennings, each in their own unique way.

D) They both are fleeting father figures to Jennings.

9. Why is it important to Jennings when Mr. Frazier tells Jennings that he knows Jennings caught the bigger fish?

A) Mr. Frazier’s approval helps give Jennings the feeling that he defeated Donald.

B) Unlike so many adults in his life, Mr. Frazier validates the truth of Jennings’s experience.

C) Jennings is desperate to become good at fishing in order to win Mr. Frazier’s approval.

D) Mr. Frazier told Jennings that he might adopt him if he caught the biggest fish of the day.

10. Which paraphrased line best describes Larry’s wisdom to Jennings about making and keeping close friends?

A) “Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.”

B) “Family is the only ‘friend’ you can really trust.”

C) “You get to like someone, and then suddenly—they’re gone.”

D) “Friends that are bonded by traumatic experiences last forever.”

11. Which of the following best describes why Jennings notes his bed number in each orphanage or children’s home to which he is sent?

A) It emphasizes the pain of anonymity that children in foster care must endure.

B) It stresses the importance of numerology in Jennings’s life.

C) It adds to a sense of fate and purpose in the memoir, since Jennings keeps landing in the bed of the same number.

D) It serves as a reminder of his failure in math class, a source of pain for him.

12. When Jennings finds out that Mark has passed away, how does he initially react?

A) He bursts into tears.

B) He loses consciousness.

C) He screams.

D)  He is completely silent.

13. According to Walter, what is the most important thing a person can have and why?

A) Education, because it can never be taken away

B) A stable family, because that gives you the foundation for a good life

C) Money, because you never have to worry about anything

D) A fast car, so you can escape any situation

14. Which of the following is the most likely reason why Jennings throws his note to Sal in the trash can?

A) Jennings is angry at Sal for abandoning him.

B) Jennings thinks that the note isn’t written well; he wants to do another draft.

C) Jennings is trying to convince himself that he does not love Sal.

D) Jennings already knows that Sal cannot take care of a child due to his job.

15. What can be inferred by the fact that Jennings refers to his adopted daughter Carolyn as an “animal” in the Epilogue?

A) Carolyn is wild; she cannot be tamed.

B) Carolyn is filled with conflict; she is broken from foster care.

C) Jennings is a cruel father; the cycle of abuse has not been broken.

D) Jennings thinks the system treats children as he was treated, like an “animal.”

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating textual details to support your response.

1. Identify 2-3 tragic losses or betrayals Jennings suffers in the first section of the book (Prologue-Chapter 4). Why does Jennings set up tragic losses/betrayals in the way he does?

2. In Chapter 12, Jennings and Mark’s relationship changes. What happens? How does this affect Jennings’s character development?