Quick Summary:
A college-aged boy living in Providence travels home to the DR when his mom gets sick. An event will happen in Haiti that will change the world.

About Junot Diaz:
Junot Díaz (born December 31, 1968) is a Dominican-American writer, creative writing professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a former fiction editor at Boston Review. He also serves on the board of advisers for Freedom University, a volunteer organization in Georgia that provides post-secondary instruction to undocumented immigrants. Central to Díaz's work is the immigrant experience, particularly the Latino immigrant experience.

Born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Díaz migrated with his family to New Jersey when he was six years old. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rutgers University, and shortly after graduating created the character "Yunior", who served as narrator of several of his later books. After obtaining his MFA from Cornell University, Díaz published his first book, the 1995 short story collection Drown.

Diaz received the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, and received a MacArthur Fellowship "Genius Grant" in 2012.

Link to Story: www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/06/04/monstro

Printable Doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wXHNsUnkVFPPT45OcAssg6YIGf8jQPy7X_luTf-ARG0/edit

Prompt:

In 2010, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck the Haitian capital of Port-a-Prince. An estimated 220,000 t0 300,000 people were killed. More than a million people lost their homes. In 2012, Junot Diaz images a world where a disease breaks out in Haiti, one turns people into a type of zombie, while also making their skin darker. In the end, our main character will drive from the DR to Haiti to investigate an event that will alter human history.

Read the short story carefully. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze the rhetorical choices Diaz makes to establish an allegorical message to his reader. 

What is the message? How does he establish it through different rhetorical moves?

Prompt:

“Monstro” imagines an alternate universe where Haitian bodies literally come together in the shape of forty-foot cannibals to consume the bodies or the people who have oppressed them. Diaz composed his story in the months after the 2010 earthquake, which killed upwards of 250,000 Haitians. 

Carefully read the source packet. Then write an essay that synthesizes material from at least 3 of the sources and develops your position on the political messages and the warnings to the US and other countries and governments that have oppressed Haiti woven into Diaz’s sci-fi allegory. 

Synthesis Materials:

Source Packet

Individual Materials Found in Packet:

• Source A: Haiti and the 2010 Earthquake (article and images)

• Source B: Timeline of Haiti and Dominican Relations

• Source C: Zombies from Around the World

• Source D: Majority of Latinos Say Skin Color Impacts Opportunity in America and Shapes Daily Life (article and graphs)

• Source E: Haitians Living in Dislocation Camps Post-Earthquake

• Source F: Image of Haiti/DR Border - Deforestation and Poverty

• Source G: Editorial Cartoons - Haiti Earthquake (2010)

Prompt:

The United States government is often a rapid responder when disasters—such as disease outbreaks, hurricanes, tsunamis, and terrorist attacks—strike at home or abroad. When the president declares a disaster, it unlocks vital federal resources for state and local governments. 

At the same time, the US regularly provides essential support to foreign countries stricken by tragedy. The growing frequency and intensity of disasters, which many researchers link to climate change and human development patterns, pose pressing new challenges for U.S. preparedness and relief efforts. In Haiti, US aid has actually had the unintended effect of disrupting local economies -- when the US brings millions of pounds of free food to a country, local farmers are put out of business. The same is true of Toms shoes, donated clothing, and free housing.

Agree, disagree, qualify – the benefits of international aid to countries such as Haiti during moments of crisis outweigh the dangers of longterm impacts on local politics and economies.

Support your argument with appropriate evidence and examples.