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

1. Consider the correlation between poverty and poor health. In which ways do they affect one’s well-being? Does this differ across countries? If so, how?

Teaching Suggestion: This Short Answer question invites students to consider an important motif within Wright’s text: the link between poverty and lack of access to healthcare. In Wright’s novel, citizens in Stung Meanchey suffer from a variety of ailments, and they live hand-to-mouth with no financial security. Ultimately, the relationship between poverty and good health is cyclical; poverty can keep individuals from accessing quality care in countries where there are no universal health care systems, while good health is essential for working and can therefore keep people from poverty. In this vein, The Importance of Education is also a critical theme for supporting healthier lifestyles for populations. As students begin exploring answers to these questions, it may be helpful to define poverty as a class and to consider its impact on both mental and physical health. This question connects with this Teaching Guide’s main Activity, “The Correlation Between Literacy Rates and Poverty.