Welcome to your college education. We hope your reading of What is the What has aroused your curiosity about the people depicted, but also about the larger world you are here to prepare to enter. As part of your orientation to the school you will be discussing this book in your mentor group, and your instructors will make reference to it throughout the semester ahead. As you read and reflect on the book, consider the following questions as an entry to the discussion.  

1. What character traits of Valentino’s are most useful to him in surviving the deterioration of Sudan? Were these traits useful in adapting to American life? 

2. What barriers to assimilation do the Sudanese face? What are the big lessons about life in America they must learn? 

3. Who are the “heroes” or role models the Sudanese refugees look up to most? What do these people, in Africa or in the US, have in common? How are they different? 

4. Why do you suppose Eggers wrote this in first person? Does it matter if the events depicted in the book are historically true or not? 

5. Both you and Valentino are in the early stages of your college experience. How is his motivation to get a college education different from or similar to yours? 

6. What are the limits of our responsibility to people in other parts of the world?  

To comment on the new student summer reading, join our blog at: 

http://freshmanreading2007.blogspot.com/