Sarah doesn't rest well and is sluggish when she goes to school the next day. When she finally gets her locker open, she knocks a vase of roses off the shelf, shattering the vase. The sound of the glass hitting the floor brings back memories of Sarah's father's death. Sarah had been the one to find her father's body on the front steps of their home. He'd been held by vampires for weeks, bled slowly, and died a painful death. Sarah discovered the body and had been so enraged that she'd lashed out, striking a window with her fist. Her mother was furious at Sarah's lack of control. As punishment, Sarah's powers were bound and she was forced to heal as a human would, slowly and painfully. She'd also been forced to train rigorously and taught to control herself.

1. Sarah is having a flashback when she thinks about her father's death. A flashback is a literary technique often used to relay information to a reader. Discuss two incidences of flashbacks in Shattered Mirror, how they were written, what information they conveyed and why they were important to the story. Use examples from your life and Shattered Mirror to support your answer.

2. Discuss the ways in which Sarah seeing her father's body on the front steps affected her life, both mentally, emotionally and in her beliefs about vampires. Use examples from your life and Shattered Mirror to support your answer.

3. Do you think Sarah's mother was unreasonable about Sarah's response to her father's body? Why or why not? Use examples from your life and Shattered Mirror to support your answer.

4. Do you think Sarah's mother's response to Sarah's anger about her father's death helped her gain self-control or do you think it may have simply made her suppress her emotions? Why or why not? Use examples from your life and Shattered Mirror to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Nikolas pins Adianna against the wall while Sarah is dealing with the humans. Sarah agrees to put down all her weapons if Nikolas will set Adianna free. Sarah fully believes it means she'll die at Nikolas's bash but willingly gives her knives up anyway. She notes that the Vida line must go on and that Adianna hasn't done anything to disgrace the family, including befriending vampires. Sarah believes that Adianna is "a better Vida than Sarah could ever be." Adianna is furious when Sarah returns home. She says Sarah has forgotten that her role is to protect humans from vampires and that she isn't supposed to put herself into dangerous situations where she'll be killed over a personal insult.

1. Discuss the emotional reactions a human might have seeing other humans help a vampire attack a person including the feelings you think Sarah might have had in the situation. Use examples from your life and Shattered Mirror to support your answer.

2. Discuss what you think are the driving forces behind Sarah's sacrifice for Adianna. Include thoughts about why her love for Adianna might not be the only reason and what those other reasons might be. Use examples from your life and Shattered Mirror to support your answer.

3. Discuss what responsibilities Sarah's mother might have in Sarah arriving at her comparison between herself and Adianna. In few of the possibility that her mother is at least partly responsible for how Sarah feels about herself, do you believe Sarah's mother is partly responsible for Sarah becoming a vampire? Why or why not? Use examples from your life and Shattered Mirror to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

Sarah says she can't ignore an opportunity to kill Nikolas because she's afraid. Nissa says she feels guilt for every one of Nikolas's victims because she is the one who turned him. Nissa says Nikolas was in jail about to be hanged for murder when she changed him. Nissa says that Kaleo didn't let her kill when she hunted the first time and that she's always been grateful for that. However, Nikolas woke for the first time as a vampire while Nissa was away and Kendra took him hunting, teaching him to kill in the process. Nissa says Nikolas turned Christopher the following night and the two of them disappeared from Nissa's life for months.

1. Courage is said to be not the absence of fear but taking appropriate action in spite of fear. Discuss what this saying means, both in the "real" world and in Sarah's life. Use examples from your life and Shattered Mirror to support your answer.

2. Do you think it is reasonable for Nissa to feel guilty about Nikolas's behavior? Why or why not? Use examples from your life and Shattered Mirror to support your answer.

3. Do you think Kendra taking Nikolas to hunt turned him into a killer or do you think he was already one? Why or why not? Use examples from your life and Shattered Mirror to support your answer.

(see the answer keys)

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