Homeless+Bird

The tale is set in India and shows one teenage girl's struggles to etch her place in its culture. It provides a distinctly different perspective on growing up than what teenage girls experience in the United States.

Use the following questions to review your comprehension.

**Chapter One Questions** 1. How old is Koly when the story begins? 2. How does Koly’s father make a living? 3. How does Koly’s mom get money for the family? 4. Explain the symbolic meaning of the lotus pod that Koly’s mother embroiders on her Sari. 5. Explain what Koly constructs for her own dowry. 6. What does Koly’s family have to sell to get enough money for the dowry and how does this hurt the family? 7. Describe, in addition to the money, the jewelry that is used for the dowry. 8. How do they decide the date and time of the wedding? 9. Why were Koly’s parents pleased that the wedding would take the place at Hari’s home? 10. What did Koly take with her to her marriage? 11. Explain how Koly described the Mehta’s house. 12. How does Koly greet Mrs. Mehta? 13. Koly wants to see her future husband but his mother says she will not be able to. Koly is concerned she will not love him. How does Koly’s mother respond? 14. What do they say will happen if the wedding doesn’t take place at the assigned time? 15. Explain what Koly and Hari wear at the wedding. 16. How does the wedding ceremony end? 17. What food is cooked at the reception? 18. Why does Koly not get a coconut cake the day of her wedding? 19. What does Koly do with her silver earrings?

1. What does Mr. Mehta do for a living? 2. Explain the household tasks that Koly performs on a daily basis. 3. What do people bring Hari while he is sick? 4. Why are they going to take Hari to Varanasi? 5. Why does Hari think he will be lucky if he dies in Varanasi? 6. What does Chandra tell Koly about why the family allowed Hari to marry despite his sickness? 7. Why does Koly worry about becoming a widow? 8. How does Hari use his sickness as an advantage towards his parents? 9. Explain why killing a cow is a terrible deed in India. 10. Why does the healer (Bhagat) sprinkle leaves of the neem tree on Hari?
 * Chapter Two Questions **

**Chapter Three Questions** 1. What does Chandra have to do in order to share in the sight of the Ganges? 2. Why does Koly think the many urns on the train where inauspicious? 3. Why does Sassur give money to the beggars? 4. What does Koly notice about the streets in Varanasi? 5. What does Hari become amazed at when they enter Varanasi? 6. Mr. Lal gives Hari a small jug of water. What does Hari do and why is this significant? 7. What do they rub on Hari’s chest? 8. What does Koly notice about the surroundings as they make their pilgrimage to the Golden Temple? 9. What does Koly notice about the inside of the temple? 10. What does Koly describe is happening along the water’s edge? 11. How does Hari’s condition change after floating in the Ganges? 12. What did they do to Hari’s body after death? 13. What do they believe the scattering of Hari’s ashes over the Ganges will do? 14. Why does Sass purchase a white cotton sari for Koly?

1. How were things different at home after Hari’s death? 2. What does Sass tell Koly about the untouchables? 3. What does Koly begin to do in order to comfort herself? 4. How does Koly learn how to read? 5. Describe what Koly daydreams about. 6. How does Koly explain the results of the monsoons? 7. Why would Koly make sure she never spilled salt? 8. What is Koly’s favorite poem about?9. What kind of picture of marriage is painted in this novel? 10. How does Hari's family betray Koly? 11.What kind of person is Koly? Does she control her future? Does that status change during the course of the novel?
 * Chapter Four Questions **

1. What job does Chandra's future husband have? 2. How does Chandra respond when Koly asks her if she loves her future husband? 3. Why is Koly not able to help Chandra prepare for her wedding day? 4. Explain the food at the wedding celebration.
 * Chapter Five Questions **

1. List the daily chores that Koly does now that Hari and Chandra are gone. 2. How did the dog and bandicoot help Koly? 3. Why can’t Koly obtain her pension herself?
 * Chapter Six Questions **

1. When Chandra returns home, what changes in her does Koly notice right away? Changes she learns of later? 2. List the funeral customs mentioned in the description of Sassur’s funeral. What does each mean or stand for? 3. Name the items that Sass sold to the moneylender. 4. What caused Koly to give up her silver earrings? Why was this so significant? 5. What would it take for you to give up your “silver earrings” or item worth the most to you? 6. Why was the letter from Sass’s brother so important? 7. What ‘treat’ did Sass have in mind for Koly on their way to Delhi? 8. Sass’s demand for the rickshaw driver to “take us to the temple” was absurd. Why? 9. Describe Koly’s reaction to the city once she had waited at the temple. 10. Koly was left with 47 rupees. Approximately how much is this in American dollars?
 * Chapter Seven Questions **

1. How does the elderly woman help Koly? 2. In your own words, retell the elderly woman’s story. 3. Why does Koly resist contacting her family? 4. Koly is still unable to obtain her pension. Why? 5. Describe how Koly shows greed. 6. Why do you think Koly fears the man in the red shirt? 7. The rickshaw driver tells Koly that he cannot demand more money. In your own words, explain why.
 * Chapter Eight Questions **

1. Mr. Govind gets very upset when jasmine flowers are delivered. Why? 2. Explain how Koly helped solve this dilemma. 3. Describe how Tamu and Koly eventually get their own bangles. 4. Why can’t Raji read? 5. Why is Koly return favor to Raji so important? 6. Explain why the temple is called the “Hill of Govardham”. 7. According to the widows, they have two opposing views of the wealthy woman that comes to visit them. Explain each view.
 * Chapter Nine Questions **

1. What new experiences does Koly have while traveling with Mrs. Devi?Describe the events that lead to Mrs. Devi funding a widow house. 2. Why does Koly decide to stitch a heron? 3. Koly said that working was great because she was paid to do what she loved best, embroider. What type of job would mean this much to you? Why? 4. How does Koly end up getting Maa Kamala to let her go to Mala’s house? 5. What about Mala’s house does Koly find exciting? 6. What does she find scary or frightening?
 * Chapter Ten Questions **

1. Name three crops that Raji planted at his farm. 2. Why does Raji say he wants to marry Koly? 3. What reasons does Koly give for begin an unworthy bride? 4. Describe Raji’s letters to Koly. What type of things does he tell her about? 5. What important items does Koly put on her fourth quilt? Why? 6. Raji quotes in one of his letters, “He who plants a tree will have his reward”. What does this mean to you? 7. At the end of the story, Koly plans to embroider a sari for Mrs. Devi with something from a Tagore poem. She chooses the homeless bird. How does the themes of homeless bird relate to Koly's life?
 * Chapter Eleven Questions **

**Final Project**

__Quilt Square__

Quilting was symbolic throughout the book. We will create a quilt that depicts Koly's courage and strength throughout the book. Each of you will be given a fabric square to decorate. You may use markers, fabric crayons, paint, iron-ons or embroidery. Be creative. Be neat. Consider the symbolism in the story. You will explain the symbolism of your picture to the class.

__ Multimedia Presentation __

Develop a slide show to depict what you have learned about India from //Homeless Bird//. Topics can be: trains, music, quilts, fabrics, widows, cinema, arranged marriages, dowry system, caste system, weddings, funerals, Hinduism, regional food, child labor, Ganges, Krishna, etc. The tale is set in India and shows one teenage girl's struggles to etch her place in its culture. It provides a distinctly different perspective on growing up than what teenage girls experience in the United States.

Click [|here] to take the story quiz. Answer each question for //Homeless Bird// and **show me** the results.