Where The Mountain Meets The Moon

In Chapter 25, Ba reveals that he thinks the word written on the Paper of Happiness is “faith.” However, by the end of the story, the reader knows that Minli’s guess is the correct one: The word is “thankfulness.” Is Ba’s guess just wrong, or is there another way to interpret his guess?

• Is there any evidence in the story that this word might actually change depending on who is reading it?
• Which characters in this story benefit from faith? Is this idea important or unimportant in the novel?
• Is there any relationship between the idea of faith and the idea of thankfulness?

Teaching Suggestion: This prompt offers students the chance to grapple with literary ambiguity and to enjoy debating a question that really does not have one “right” answer. You might stress to them, however, that there are “tenable” and “untenable” answers and that what is important is the case they can build for their opinion. This prompt is a natural springboard for a discussion of strategies for responding when you find that your answer lies somewhere in the middle of two proposed alternatives: You might talk with students about the idea of “affirm, refute, or qualify” and offer them some coaching about appropriate ways to offer qualified answers that are clear and authoritative.