Sarah, Plain and Tall

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. The importance of family and community is a common theme in literature.

• In Sarah, Plain and Tall, how do characters think about family?
• Examine 2 characters whose need for or finding of family drives their development. Include at least 1 direct quote from the text to support your discussion of each character.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, discuss what these characters’ arcs suggest about the nature of family.  

2. Epistolary literature uses written communication like letters, emails, or text messages to tell a story.  

• In Sarah, Plain and Tall, how and where does the author employ the epistolary format?
• Discuss 3 ways letters are used as a narrative device in the story. Be sure to analyze the effect of the inclusion of the letters.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, discuss how the inclusion of letters contributes to the story’s meaning.

3. In literature, spring often symbolizes The Beauty of New Beginnings.

• What role do meteorological seasons play in Sarah, Plain and Tall?
• Consider the seasons on which the novel focuses, spring and summer, and discuss in 2 paragraphs the importance of these seasons to the story and what they symbolize. Find at least 1 direct quote from the text to support your analysis in each paragraph.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, summarize how the author uses the seasons to highlight the theme of change and new beginnings.

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. From the start of the novel, the author shows Caleb to be an anxious child who worries over Papa’s sadness and whether or not Sarah will accept Caleb’s family and their way of life. Caleb worries most that Sarah will not like his personality. How does the author use Caleb to explore a child’s anxiety, grief, and fear? Discuss how Sarah adjusts to his presence and becomes a mother to him. How does Sarah’s presence affirm Caleb’s unique personality and assert the importance of accepting children instead of forcing them to change? Include specific evidence from the text to highlight Caleb’s character progression.

2. Though the novel is set in the 1800s, when women did not have many opportunities, the author portrays Sarah as an independent woman who is not afraid to assert her needs. Explore Sarah’s independent spirit through her words, actions, and even dress. How does she depart from the era’s norms? How does her personality make her well suited to life on the prairie? Does her self-assurance sometimes put her at odds with other characters? Cite specific evidence from the text to support your analysis of her character.

3. The idea of memory is an important motif in the text. Discuss how Anna keeps the memory of her mother alive for Caleb while also holding painful memories from the day of her death. How does memory impact Sarah’s move to the prairie? Is the grief of Sarah’s homesickness like Anna’s loss? Maggie tells Sarah that people will always have something or someone to miss, but she encourages Sarah to move on and embrace a new future with new memories. What does this suggest about the role memory plays in life? Be sure to use evidence from the text for support.