Year of the Elephant: A Moroccan Woman's Journey Toward Independence, and Other Stories Short Essay Assignments

Short Essay Questions

The 60 short essay questions listed in this section require a one to two sentence answer. They ask students to demonstrate a deeper understanding of the text. Students must describe what they've read, rather than just recall it.

Short Essay Question - Introduction

1. Why does the author of the introduction claim that "Year of the Elephant" is "an event in cross-cultural literary history"?

2. Why is the point of view of "Year of the Elephant" important?

3. Why might Abou Zayd have written "Year of the Elephant" in Arabic?

4. Describe Abou Zayd's childhood and how it affected her writing.

5. What is the Year of the Elephant ?

6. What was the education crisis Morocco faced in the 1950's?

Short Essay Question...
(read more)