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

What are the common characteristics of a quest story? What goals or objectives might the characters seek, and what kinds of challenges do questers often face?

Teaching Suggestion: It may be helpful to introduce this novel from a genre context with which many students are familiar: the quest. In the novel, protagonist and narrator Viji decides to begin a quest for safety and subsistence. Taking her sister Rukku, who has an intellectual disability, Viji escapes from their father’s abusive household and tries to find work in the city of Chennai. Viji’s narrative explains her decision for this quest: Although she loves her mother and knows that she and Rukku will experience poverty and other challenges, Viji rationalizes that the continued abuse at home is too difficult and dangerous to endure. Viji maintains this mindset throughout the novel, no matter the difficult situations they face while trying to survive. Offering students insight into Viji’s situation before they begin reading provides an opportunity to introduce the themes of Male Domination and Feminine Powerlessness and The Richness and Beauty of the Insignificant.