Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

Indigenous communities who lived in North American lands for thousands of years experienced a multitude of hardships as a result of European colonization. Based on your knowledge of Native American communities in the US, how did European colonization adversely affect Indigenous communities?

Teaching Suggestion: This Short Answer question invites students to consider the history of European colonization and imperialism in North America as it relates to The Native American Identity and Forgiving Oppressors. Hobbs touches upon several of these issues in his novel, including higher mortality rates for infants, low education rates and high illiteracy rates for Indigenous children, and the generational trauma of assimilation schools. As a result, Indigenous communities are more likely to experience higher poverty levels, more mental health issues, and early mortality rates compared to other ethnicities living in the US. Bearstone’s protagonist, Cloyd, represents many of the larger issues through his characterization, as his mother died in childbirth, his father abandoned him at birth, and he is deterred from attending formal school. This Short Answer question segues directly to the Short Activity.