Of Beetles and Angels: A Boy’s Remarkable Journey from a Refugee Camp to Harvard

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. 

Scaffolded/Short-Answer Essay Questions

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

1. Throughout the book, the author employs certain text-based writing strategies to indicate tone and voice.

• How does Mawi’s employment of text-based strategies contribute to the characterization of the people and places in Of Beetles and Angels? (topic sentence)
• Discuss ways in which Mawi uses a variety of voices and viewpoints to achieve indirect characterization. Point out specific examples from the book in your discussion.
• How do Mawi’s choice of text-based strategies connect to The Refugee Experience? (conclusion)

2. Food, as a cultural object, appears at various points throughout Of Beetles and Angels.

• How is food both a help and hindrance to assimilation for Mawi and his family, an experience shared by many immigrant communities in America? (topic sentence)
• Discuss instances in which food is meaningfully mentioned in the text to support your response; explain the ways in which these examples are both a help and a hindrance to Mawi’s family members.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, summarize generally what food might mean to communities in exile as they try to acclimate to a new home.

3. Immigrant communities are often the victim of negative stereotypes.

• How does playing into unflattering, untrue stereotypes occasionally benefit the main characters in Of Beetles and Angels? (topic sentence)
• Discuss several examples of the book’s key figures benefiting from stereotypes.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, summarize briefly the connection between the characters’ actions you mentioned and the theme of The Refugee Experience and Prejudice in America.

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. Politics are largely absent from this memoir. How does this affect the book, a story about those displaced by larger political issues? What does this authorial choice say about the story that Mawi wishes to tell? Also consider that, in the 2020s, Mawi has encouraged swift political action to end a new genocide in Ethiopia (“Why the U.S. Should Call the Famine and Violence in Tigray a Genocide”). How might Mawi’s telling of Of Beetles and Angels be different if written and published in the 2020s? Support your thoughts with details from the text and conclusions one can draw about Mawi based on his storytelling.

2. Mawi’s father Haileab is the primary focus of at least four chapters in this book, and he is inarguably one of the main influences in Mawi’s life. Compare the ways in which Haileab and Tewolde affect Mawi’s trajectory. How are they similar and how do they differ? While Haileab’s emphasis on education makes a huge impact on Mawi, Mawi finds Tewolde’s industriousness perhaps his most inspiring quality. Long after Tewolde’s death, Mawi continues to keep Tewolde’s business card for Tewolde’s cleaning business in his wallet, as a reminder to work hard. What lessons does Haileab impart about the importance of hard work? Use examples and details from the book in your response.

3. In Chapter 8, we learn about the concept of libee migbar, a phrase that means “to develop a heart” and refers to emotional maturity. Aside from Tewolde, are there other characters who go through libee migbar over the course of the book? Particularly consider how this idea ties into larger theme of Generosity and Resilience in the book, especially regarding the concept of “selfless giving.” Discuss your ideas with the support of examples from the text.