The Boy On The Wooden Box

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.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

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

1. Schindler is presented as a complicated character throughout the memoir.

• What are the positive and negative aspects of Schindler’s character? (topic sentence)
• Describe Schindler’s negative and positive qualities, citing details from the text.
• In your concluding sentences, explain whether you believe Schindler is mostly good and why.

2. Leon and his family suffered greatly at the hands of the Nazis during World War II.

• How does the experience of Nazi oppression change the outlook of Leon and his family? (topic sentence)
• Describe how Leon and his family change after experiencing oppression by the Nazis. Provide details from the text to support your ideas.
• In your concluding sentences, describe why Leon chose to include the changes made to his family during the Holocaust.

3. Throughout the memoir, both Germans and Poles behave irrationally toward Jewish people.

• How do people in the memoir demonstrate The Irrational Nature of Antisemitism? (topic sentence)
• Describe three instances in the memoir that illustrate the irrationality of the hatred carried out against the Jews.
• In your concluding sentences, explain how irrational hatred contributed to the Nazi war effort.

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. Leyson endorses Joseph Campbell’s definition of a hero as someone who does “the best of things in the worst of times.” How does this definition apply to Oskar Schindler? In what ways does Schindler exhibit the best characteristics in difficult times? How does Schindler’s life contrast with Leyson’s statement? Do you believe ultimately that Schindler was a good person?

2. Leyson frames the book with the 1965 “Schindler’s Jews” reunion. What effect does his decision have on the reader? What is the reader’s first impression of Schindler? How does the reader understand Leyson’s relationship with Schindler?

3. Leyson makes extensive use of foreshadowing and looking back on events that happened in the past. What purpose does this serve? How is Leon’s understanding of the past shaped by what he knows now? In what ways is the narrative clarified for the reader because of Leon’s knowledge of what happened outside of the camps he worked in?