When We Were Orphans

How does Ishiguro utilize the temporal and spatial settings, and to what purpose?

Creative Assignment: Write an alternative ending where Banks reunites with his parents.

Explore the relationship dynamic between young Christopher and his friend Akira through three examples.

Is Sarah Hemmings a flat (undeveloped, supporting) or rounded (complex, three-dimensional) character? Support your claim with analysis of three examples.

Is Sarah Hemmings a flat (undeveloped, supporting) or rounded (complex, three-dimensional) character? Support your claim with analysis of three examples.

“Actually, odd as it may sound, my lack of parents—indeed, of any close kin in England except my aunt in Shropshire—had by then long ceased to be of any great inconvenience to me.” To what extent do the events of the novel support Banks’s claim?

Is Uncle Philip the novel’s antagonist? Explore through examples from the work.

How does Ishiguro portray the International Settlement in Shanghai in relation to the rest of the city? What purpose does this achieve in the novel?

Creative Assignment: Imagine an ending where Banks leaves China with Sarah.