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 * Pre-Reading**
 * 1) What is the relationship between choices and consequences?
 * 2) How do the choices you make impact your life? Impact the lives of others? How do the collective choices of many impact the lives of others?
 * 3) How can the choices we make lead to both good and bad consequences? How can consequences promote negative/positive change?
 * 4) What do the choices and subsequent actions a person (or group) makes reveal about that person’s (or group’s) character?
 * 5) Do we all have equal power/ability to make choices? Why is this important?


 * Chapters 1-3**
 * 1) Describe the setting and mood at the beginning of the story. Who assisted Mortenson on his way to Askole/Korphe?
 * 2) What does Mortenson drink for nourishment? Why is this significant to the story?
 * 3) Does the poem below that begins Chapter 2 (in the original version) reflect self-determination or destiny? Do you agree with the poem’s sentiment? Explain. Why do you think the author chose to place the poem in this chapter? (WIKI)

Why ponder thus the future to foresee And jade thy brain to vain perplexity? Cast off thy care, leave Allah’s plans to him- He formed them all without consulting thee.

-Omar Khayyam, The Rubalyat

4. What does Mortenson discover about the quality of life in Korphe, specifically in regard to healthcare and education? In what ways is the quality of life in Korphe better or worse than your own? Cite evidence from the text. 5. Create a Character Web using Inspiration or[| webspiration], or the [|Google doc], for Mortenson. Make additions to the web as you read. Include: ¨ Name of the Character ¨ Background of the Character ¨ Events that happen to or around the character ¨ What is the character's relationship with other characters and the environment? ¨ What are some important things that the character says? ¨ What changes does the character go through? ¨ Name some things that the character does in the story? ¨ What do other characters say about this character? ¨ What is a good question to ask about this character?

6. Who is Haji Ali? Record on a new Character Web. 7. How do the villagers help Mortenson? How does Mortenson help the villagers? 8. What promise does Mortenson make to the villagers of Korphe?


 * Chapters 4-5**
 * 1) List 3 important details from Mortenson’s childhood. How might his childhood have prepared him for his role as director of the Central Asia Institute (CAI)? Explain.
 * 2) How does Mortenson feel about his sister Krista? How do you know? Cite evidence from the story.
 * 3) How does Mortenson try to raise money for the school? Is he successful?
 * 4) What roles does Jean Hoerni play in Mortenson’s fundraising?


 * Chapter 6**
 * 1) When Mortenson returns to Pakistan with money for the Korphe school, Abdul Shah, the watchman at the hotel, says, “By the merciful light of Allah almighty, tomorrow we make much bargain.” What does Shah mean? What do the act of bargaining and the mention of Allah reveal about Shah’s culture? How is it similar or different to your own culture?
 * 2) Much of this chapter shows Mortenson trying to assimilate into a non-Western (Muslim) culture. In the original version, Relin writes, “Mortenson had known…that the word ‘Muslim”means, literally,’to submit.’ And like many Americans…had found the idea dehumanizing. But for the first time, kneeling among a hundred strangers, watching them wash away…impurities…he glimpsed the pleasure to be found in submission to a ritualized fellowship of prayer.” Describe a time you saw a cultural difference in a new light. What enabled you to change?
 * 3) Is it possible to embrace cultural diversity without being exposed to diverse cultures? Cite evidence from the text as well as your own experience to explain your answer.


 * Chapter 7-11**
 * 1) Describe the roads on which Mortenson traveled.
 * 2) At one point in the original version of the story, Mortenson says that he feels like a “flashing neon dollar sign.” (p95) Why do you think he feels this way?
 * 3) Using either Inspiration or [|Webspiration], make another Character Web of Changazi. How does he compare to Mortenson? (WIKI)
 * 4) When Mortenson finally returns to Korphe, what new obstacle does he face?
 * 5) Review your Character Webs of Haji Ali and Mortenson. What similarities and differences do they have?
 * 6) Why does Mortenson enlist George McCown to help pay those who were working on the bridge?
 * 7) The title of the chapter “Building Bridges” has a literal and figurative meaning. Define both and tell how each relates to the story.
 * 8) What important personal event takes place at this point in the story?


 * Chapter 12-13**
 * 1) At the school construction site, what does Haji Ali instruct Mortenson to do? How is this situation representative of a clash of cultures? Does Mortenson listen to Haji Ali’s advice? What would you have done in the same situation?
 * 2) Retell in your own words the custom of “three cups of tea” as defined by Haji Ali. How does embracing this custom impact Mortenson’s success? (WIKI)
 * 3) What are some of the sacrifices the people of Korphe made in order to build this school?
 * 4) Why does Mortenson consider Haji Ali to be the “wisest man he ever met”?
 * 5) Describe the wisest person you know and explain why he or she is wise.


 * Chapter 14**
 * 1) Tone is defined as a literary technique that is a part of composition, which encompasses the attitudes toward the subject and toward the audience implied in a literary work. Tone may be formal, informal, intimate, solemn, somber, playful, serious, ironic, condescending, or many other possible attitudes.Tone and mood are not interchangeable. Describe the tone of this chapter.
 * 2) Why does a WaterPik advertisement in Time magazine cause Mortenson to cry?


 * Chapter 15-16**
 * 1) What important advice does Haji Ali give to Mortenson that he incorporates into the Central Asia Institute (CAI) plans for building new schools? Do you think this advice would serve Mortenson well if he were building schools in the US? Why/why not?
 * 2) Throughout the story Mortenson encounters obstacles to building the schools. Would it have been easier and/or more effective for Mortenson to have used builders from the US to build the schools? Explain. Why is how Mortenson chose to build the schools important?
 * 3) List two details from this chapter that reveal that Jean Hoerni is proud of his role in the CAI.
 * 4) What does this story reveal about the rights of girls?


 * Chapters 17-20**
 * 1) What does Haji Ali mean when he tells Mortenson to “listen to the wind”?
 * 2) Why do you think Mortenson asking Americans back home “not to assume that all Muslims Mortenson says, “I’ve learned that terror doesn’t happen because some group of people in somewhere like Pakistan or Afghanistan simply decide to hate us. It happens because children aren’t being offered a bright enough future that they had a reason to choose life over death….with a chance at a better life, they would not be easy prey for terrorists who taught them to hate countries like the US…” Do you agree or disagree? How so? Does Mortenson’s statement apply to citizens in the US as well? How so?
 * 3) were guilty of terrorism” in the months after 9/11 resulted in envelope after envelope of hate mail? (p129-130)
 * 4) How is going to Washington D.C. “Like being dropped into a remote Afghan village” for Mortenson” (p137)
 * 5) In the original version of the book, author, Jon Krakauer, reads “The Second Coming” by William Butler Yeats to introduce Mortenson? What is the relevance of the Yeats’ poem?

Things fall apart: the centre cannot hold Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity”
 * Chapters 21-End**
 * 1) How do Jahan’s words demonstrate that the schools are improving the lives of the students who attend them?
 * 2) Mortenson states that the war on terror “Will ultimately be won with books, not bombs.” Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Explain.
 * 3) How is education like water? (p145)