Allies

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 below bulleted outlines. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Although all characters are united for a common purpose, many of them are openly discriminated against in the novel.

• In which ways does Gratz use this novel as an opportunity to speak about 1940s Discrimination Through Different Lenses? (topic sentence)
• Select one character as an example and explain how s/he is discriminated against.
• Does the setting of war time impact the discrimination this character faces? Why or why not? Summarize your thoughts in your concluding sentences.

2. Compare the narrators’ motivations for enlisting in the military.

• Do the characters’ parents influence their decision to enlist or do they join for their own reasons? (topic sentence)
• Identify the motivations of the narrators’ enlistment as examples.
• In your concluding sentences, explain how this novel speaks more broadly on the theme of Parents’ Impacts on Their Adolescent Children.

3. Throughout the novel, the narrators find companions during their missions on D-Day.

• In what ways do these companions help the narrators? (topic sentence)
• Identify and explain one example of a narrator who is supported by a companion in a time of need.
• How does this companionship fit into the larger theme of Solidarity as a Way of Overcoming Challenges?

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. Compare the differences between the German armies and the Allies. How are the Nazis and the various Allies portrayed differently in the book? Consider and discuss both direct and indirect characterization techniques. Analyze the author’s purpose and intent behind these portrayals.

2. In what ways does the novel make connections between patriotism and identity? Explain how each character’s view of themselves changes over the course of the novel, and how these changes make a statement about patriotism and identity.

3. Select one character that experiences either sexism or racism in the novel and describe the struggles they experience. In your discussion, reference details from a variety of points in the plot. Would those biases be present in the story if it were set in the twenty-first century instead of the 1940s? Why or why not?