The Only Road

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. One aspect of Jaime’s characterization is that he takes a lot of personal responsibility for the events of the novel, starting with Miguel’s death.

• To what extent is Jaime actually responsible for the things he thinks are his fault? (topic sentence)
• Give examples from three different places in the novel that support your interpretation of whether Jaime is or is not actually responsible.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, show how this tendency of Jaime’s relates to the novel’s thematic concerns with The Drug Trade’s Impact on Central American Families and Children and The Experience of Migration.

2. Jaime and Ángela encounter several different immigration officers as they journey north.

• How do the different officers’ approaches to their job demonstrate the different reasons people might have for becoming immigration officers? (topic sentence)
• Give at least three examples of different officers’ behavior and explain what each example might demonstrate about why the officer got involved in immigration enforcement.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, show how the behavior and motivations of the immigration officers relate to the novel’s thematic concerns with The Experience of Migration and Compassion.

3. In Chapter 16, Rafa steals gum and cigarettes in the marketplace, taking them from a man who refuses to pay him for the work he has done.

• What is another morally questionable choice that one of the children makes on the journey north, and how would you compare the morality of this choice to the one Rafa makes when he steals from the man in the market? (topic sentence)
• Explain both situations—Rafa’s choice to steal and the other morally questionable decision you have chosen to focus on.
• Write a few sentences comparing and contrasting the ethics of these two situations.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, show how your analysis relates to the novel’s thematic concern with The Experience of Migration.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. Consider how food is used to express feelings during the section of the novel that takes place in Guatemala. How does Jaime’s experience with food change during his journey north? What does the lack of food signify? What does it mean when people share the limited food they do have access to? When Jaime arrives in the United States, what new food does he encounter, and how does he respond to it? Write an essay in which you analyze the symbolic role of food in The Only Road. Show how this symbolism supports the novel’s thematic concerns with The Experience of Migration and Compassion. Support your arguments with evidence drawn from throughout the novel, making sure to cite any quoted material.

2. What do the characters of El Gordo and Padre Kevin demonstrate about morality? Is either one completely good or completely bad? What do you think their circumstances in life have to do with the choices they make? How are their decisions, like those of the migrant children, also about having to choose from only bad options? Write an essay in which you analyze the messages about morality conveyed through these two characters. Show how these messages are related to one or more of the novel’s thematic concerns with The Drug Trade’s Impact on Central American Families and Children, The Experience of Migration, and Compassion. Support your arguments with evidence drawn from throughout the novel, making sure to cite any quoted material.

3. Jaime thinks that “if their lives weren’t at stake, riding a train cross-country would be fun,” and he imagines details like “going through big cities and one-horse towns, getting the conductor in his striped hat to toot the horn,” and “borrowing a piece of coal to draw it all” (Chapter 11). How does the story use plot details, dialogue, diction, and imagery to contrast the children’s actual experience with this fantasy? Write an essay in which you analyze how the text creates a contrast between reality and fantasy regarding the train. Show how this contrast helps support the text’s thematic concern with The Experience of Migration. Support your arguments with evidence drawn from throughout the novel, making sure to cite any quoted material.