75 pages • 2 hours read
William BellForbidden City
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1990A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Essay Topics
What roles does freedom of the press play in the novel?
How does the student life differ at home for Alex versus when he is a student or living with students in China?
What roles do personal and political loyalty play in the novel?
In what ways are traditional gender roles challenged in the book?
How does Alex’s relationship with his father, Ted, evolve and change?
What does Alex come to learn about war while in China that he cannot access by studying military history?
What role does food play in the book?
How is heroism defined by Alex, and others, in the story?
What does Alex learn about social engagement and activism via the students he encounters? How does it make him reconsider his own contributions?
How is the format of the novel—being told in diary form—significant in the processing of these historical events?
