How Dare the Sun Rise

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.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

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

1. Sandra has two “homes” in How Dare the Sun Rise—her childhood home in DRC, and then later her family’s home in Rochester.

• How does Sandra’s description of her childhood home in DRC contrast with her home in Rochester? (topic sentence)
• In what ways do these depictions of Sandra’s domestic life undermine common Western prejudices about life in sub-Saharan Africa?
• In your concluding sentences, explore how the Devaluation of Girls and Women is not merely a problem in DRC—it affects the Western world, as well.

2. Religiousness and faith in God appear in a number of characters in How Dare the Sun Rise, from the rebels who commit the massacre to Sandra and her parents.

• Particularly considering the rebels’ Christian beliefs, in what ways can faith be problematic? (topic sentence)
• In what ways is Sandra’s parents’ faith similar to the rebels? In what ways is it different?
• In your concluding sentences, explain how Sandra’s parents were sustained by hope and trust in God, and how War and Displacement has a multi-faceted connection to faith.

3. Sandra relates to the women in her family (her mother, her elder sisters) differently from the men (her father, her brother).

• How do these relationships upend the notions of gender roles perpetuated by her culture? (topic sentence)
• Conversely, in what ways do aspects of these relationships reassert certain conventions with her culture?
• In your concluding sentences, explore how Sandra rallies against The Devaluation of Girls and Women and how that, ultimately, is what drives these differences between the women and men in her family.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. During her high school years, Sandra wished her relationship with her parents more closely resembled that of her classmates’ relationships with their parents. Though she describes the differences in her relationship with her parents, in what ways was their relationship similar to her peers’ relationships to their parents? How was Sandra’s estrangement from her parents key to her personal evolution? In your response, consider how grappling with American Racism might have affected Sandra’s view of her parents, and cite no fewer than three moments in the text when Sandra—for better or for worse—seeks to emulate the lives/social conventions of her white classmates.

2. Imagine you are an immigration attorney. Using elements from How Dare the Sun Rise, how would you construct an argument on behalf of a Syrian refugee to gain admittance to the US? In your response, cite specific moments in the text where Sandra and her family encounter challenges during the immigration process. In your advice to your hypothetical client, be sure to address issues they might need to be briefed on in advance around American Racism and how that affects the immigration process and beyond.

3. Sandra began the process of writing How Dare the Sun Rise because of her inability to afford therapy. Based on this, what argument, if any, could be made about the value of making therapy more cost-effective and widely available? Consider the ways in which both War and Displacement and American Racism have a pronounced effect on Sandra’s mental health. In your response, be sure to cite moments in the text when Sandra’s mental health is the focus—how did writing about her trauma help alleviate the PTSD she felt around the massacre? Why do you suppose that is so?