Use these activities to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity. 

ACTIVITY 1: “Significant Objects”

Throughout the novel, heirlooms and objects (the two stone necklaces, the Golden Stool, etc.) create a tenuous link to national and family history, and a collective sense of identity. Create a short presentation that examines either A) the cultural history of an object of art, relic, or historical artifact, and how it has come to be tied to a nation’s identity, or B) the significance of a particular object in your own family’s history.

Teaching Suggestion: This activity is designed to prompt students to think deeply about how art, objects, relics, and heirlooms take on significant meaning for individuals, as well as nations. They can begin their research by asking, what myths are tied to this object? How did it come to gain such significance for this nation/my family? Are there any dangers in these national and personal symbols?