City of the Beasts

While they are with the People of the Mist, both Alex and Nadia undertake quests that test their courage and require personal sacrifice. What do Alex and Nadia learn about sacrifice and courage from their quests? Consider these points as you formulate your response.

• Do Alex and Nadia start the novel with similar understandings of sacrifice and courage, or is there evidence that the two are at different places in their understanding?
• What motivates both young people to undertake their quests—what part of their motivation is personal and what part of their motivation is altruistic?
• Do both of their quests require the same kind of courage? The same kind of sacrifice?
• What messages about courage and sacrifice do their quests convey to the reader? Do their experiences convey the same messages to Alex and Nadia?

Teaching Suggestion: This question asks students to focus primarily on two sections of text: the early chapters and the chapters describing the quests. Since students are being asked to track changes in two separate characteristics for two characters, they may find it helpful to set up graphic organizers. Two four-quadrant organizers, one for sacrifice and one for courage, will allow students to compare and contrast the early evidence of Alex’s understanding with the early evidence of Nadia’s understanding and compare and contrast each character’s early and later understandings.

If your students are ready for an additional challenge, you might follow up by asking why the characters of Alex and Nadia are both necessary. Their two quests are roughly parallel and teach roughly parallel lessons—so what does Allende gain by sending them both on quests instead of just one of them? What does Nadia’s character bring to the novel?

Differentiation Suggestion: Even if you do not lead the entire class through setting up graphic organizers, you might wish to offer organizers to students with attentional and executive function differences to assist with the organization of their ideas. English learners, students with dyslexia, and those with attentional and executive function differences may benefit from working with a partner or small group to gather evidence. If you are asking students to respond in writing rather than orally, students who struggle with written expression might be allowed to complete and submit graphic organizers rather than fully developed written responses.