61 pages • 2 hours read
Laurie FrankelThis Is How It Always Is
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2017A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Essay Topics
Analyze the ways in which Rosie’s sister Poppy’s death affected Rosie’s life.
List the ways in which Claude’s transformation to Poppy are foreshadowed in Part 1.
What role does Carmelo play in Poppy’s life?
Compare and contrast the ways in which Poppy’s family members express concern about her well-being in Part 1.
Explain Roo’s rationale for creating his video. How does it differ from his parents’ interpretation of it?
What are the fundamental differences between the ways Penn and Rosie see Poppy’s transition in Parts 2 and 3? What are their respective fears in regard to hormone blockers?
Why does Mr. Tongo ultimately see the revelation of Poppy’s secret at school a good thing?
What effect does Claude’s exposure to gender-fluid people like K in Thailand have on Claude’s own sense of self?
What lessons do Claude and Rosie learn while in Thailand?
Analyze what Rosie means in this quote: “Their lives would be a different kind of fairy tale, less magic and more ambiguity, less once-upon-a-time and happily-ever-after and more in between. A middle way” (305).
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By Laurie Frankel
