Novel Updates

Each Monday, you should choose one of the DISCUSSION QUESTIONS to answer in the Blackboard
Discussion pages. First, write which pages you read that week. Then, choose one question to answer.
To receive full credit for your novel updates, you must:
1) Type the question(s) you chose for that week and fully answer them.
2) Write well organized, complete answers.
3) Show that you are progressing in your novel as planned.
4) Show that you understand what you have read.
5) Support your opinions with facts, and give quotations from the novel to support your answers.
6) Show an understanding and tolerance for the culture that you are reading about.
7) Use correct spelling, grammar and punctuation.
8) Use quotations, summarizing and paraphrasing correctly.
9) Use paragraphs effectively.
10) Write a brief comment on one other persons novel update. Your comment should reference specific
things that he or she wrote, showing why you agreed or disagreed or were impressed or upset by it.
Each of the above points will be worth one point. A student who does all 10 things will get a 10 on their
novel update. A student who misses one thing (for example, forgot to comment on anothers novel
update) will receive a 9. A student who misses two things will receive an 8, etc.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. Describe the events that happened in the first section that you read. How did they make you feel? What is
your initial reaction to the novel?
2. Identify the protagonist. List three (3) physical characteristics. Identify three (3) personality traits.
Provide one example from the story to support each personality trait. (NOTE: Do not repeat yourself by
saying "kind, nice, and sweet" as personality traits. Each trait must be distinctly different.)
3. What is the main conflict in the novel? Explain it in detail, giving examples from the book.

4. Explain the meaning of the title. Look beyond the obvious: My Name is Asher Lev has
more significance than the fact that his name is Asher Lev!
The title of the book is the Devils Highway. It represents the road in the desert that
migrants coming from Mexico have to follow in order to get to the United States and build
a better life for them.
5. Describe the cultural background of your characters. What new information that you are
learning about this culture that you didnt know before? Are there any questions you have
about the culture that the book hasnt answered?
What I hadnt think about is that all the conception that the Americans have from us
Mexicans is wrong. Most of the concepts and stereotypes they have about us, for example
the food, music, and ways of transport are from the northern Mexicans, which in reality are
very different from the southern. The cause of this is that the northern Mexicans, being
closer to the US, have been influenced by American culture and traditions for good or for
bad. The Mexicans looking to cross are mainly from the south, so when they arrive up
north, they encounter a lot of unfamiliar and strange things.
Why are they so easily influenced and manipulated by the coyotes?
6. With which character do you most identify? Explain using examples from the character's life and your life.
If none, explain the differences between yourself and the most opposite character from you using examples
from the character's life and yours.

7. Is the novel based upon the workings of the heart (meant to affect you emotionally) or of the mind (meant
to make you think)? Explain why using at least three (3) example from the novel.
8. What is the main theme of your novel? (An idea that is introduced, relating to the plot - like power,
jealousy, etc.) How does your author deal with that theme in the novel? What message does the author want
the reader to understand about the theme? What is your opinion about it?
9. Write the last sentence of your novel. Explain how the conclusion of the novel leads up to that sentence.
Is this sentence appropriate as "the last sentence" of your book? Why or why not?
10. Would your novel be different if the main character was of the opposite gender? (Assume that significant
others would change genders as well, if that is a factor.) Explain how this change would or would not affect
your story.
11. Most of the novels you are reading deal with either a culture being dominated by another culture (as in
Things Fall Apart) or a culture in Diaspora (a group that has had to leave its culture and currently lives as a
minority group among another culture). Which does your book deal with? How does dominance or Diaspora
affect the lives of the characters in your novel?