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. 

Scaffolded/Short-Answer Essay Questions 

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the below bulleted outlines. Cite details from the book over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Soto often talks about his violent nature as a child; specifically, he was always getting into fights. Consider how these physical fights connect to his circumstances.

• What commentary does Soto make about the link between Violence and Environment? (topic sentence)
• Select details from the text that highlight what Soto thinks about the connection between his violent nature and his environment.
• In your final sentences, discuss whether Soto changed his mind about those connections as he got older.

2. In the following quote from Story 16 (“Black Hair”), Soto links poverty, physically demanding work, and what it means to be Mexican:

“As I kid I chopped cotton and picked grapes, so I knew work. I knew the fatigue and the boredom and the feeling that there was a good possibility you might have to do such work for years, if not a lifetime.