The Bridge Home

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

What are the common characteristics of a quest story? What goals or objectives might the characters seek, and what kinds of challenges do questers often face?

Teaching Suggestion: It may be helpful to introduce this novel from a genre context with which many students are familiar: the quest. In the novel, protagonist and narrator Viji decides to begin a quest for safety and subsistence. Taking her sister Rukku, who has an intellectual disability, Viji escapes from their father’s abusive household and tries to find work in the city of Chennai. Viji’s narrative explains her decision for this quest: Although she loves her mother and knows that she and Rukku will experience poverty and other challenges, Viji rationalizes that the continued abuse at home is too difficult and dangerous to endure. Viji maintains this mindset throughout the novel, no matter the difficult situations they face while trying to survive. Offering students insight into Viji’s situation before they begin reading provides an opportunity to introduce the themes of Male Domination and Feminine Powerlessness and The Richness and Beauty of the Insignificant. These and similar resources may be helpful in introducing the circumstances, abuse, and trauma Viji and her sister experience at home.

• The World Health Organization offers language and key statistics that may be helpful in discussing the topic of “Violence Against Children.”
• The nonprofit group The Borgen Project discusses child poverty in India in this brief article from 2020.

Short Activity

Venkatraman’s novel is set in both the rural and urban regions of India. Working in small groups, research one of the following areas for a brief presentation to your peers:

• History and geography
• Cultures and languages
• Employment and economics
• Politics and government

Your presentation should supply an overview of your assigned area, including statistics and facts.

After researching your area and preparing your notes to present, make 2-3 predictions on the ways in which the novel’s themes (The Presence of God in the Face of Suffering, The Creativity and Resourcefulness of People Experiencing Poverty, Male Domination and Feminine Powerlessness, and The Richness and Beauty of the Insignificant) might connect to the information you have discovered.

Teaching Suggestion: This Short Activity serves as an entry point to support students’ understanding of the characters and the setting. The links below may be used for guiding students’ research and introducing the author to the class.

• Asia Society provides information on India’s history and daily life in contemporary society.
• The Highlights Foundation shares a 2019 interview with author Venkatraman on “Fear, Creativity and Motivation.”

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the text.

What are the most important things that a person needs to survive? List 5 things and provide your rationale for each.

Teaching Suggestion: In the novel, unhoused children are forced to make difficult decisions about how to spend the little money that they earn. If appropriate, this prompt might help to introduce the novel’s theme of The Creativity and Resourcefulness of People Experiencing Poverty. Students might use this prompt as either a take-home assignment or an in-class discussion.

Differentiation Suggestion: Due to the sensitive nature of the prompt with regard to those students who experience housing and food insecurity, it may be beneficial to offer an alternate prompt option: What literature or films have you experienced in which a “found family” is featured? Choose one and discuss the plot’s circumstances and character conflicts involved.