Essay Questions

What do Two and Hank have in common that creates their friendship?

Although they originally make friends because they are similar people, Two and Hank's friendship is strengthened by their shared feelings of marginalization. Both face discrimination because of their ethnicity, and both develop an "us against the world" kind of feeling because of that. They are both also learning more about their own ancestral histories, which are both very different, but also woven together by the suffering that their ancestors experienced.

Both also share a feeling that things will improve if they are educated as to what happened to their ancestors, so that they can try to make sure it is not repeated.

When Two and Hank meet a group of interesting people, what is the thread that binds them together?

Two and Hank start to open themselves up to meeting others, when they have previously only felt confident in their own friendship. As a result they start to meet all sorts of people whose life circumstances and experiences are vastly different, but who have all experienced prejudice and marginalization because of their ethnicity or their religion, or sometimes their heritage. Sometimes they are surprised by the people who have been prejudiced against, for example, they meet a veteran whom they assume would be respected and treated just like everyone else, but after speaking to him they learn that he is in exactly the same boat that they are.

How are Hank and Two both tied to the land that the zoo is built on?

Two learns that there was once a massacre of her Native American ancestors on the land where the zoo now stands. The massacre is not widely publicized and so it is not something that she has always been aware of. Hundreds of her ancestors were killed on the land by settlers.

Hank's relationship with the land that the zoo is built on is a little more recent. He learns that slaves were used to turn the land from the bare site that it had been, to the zoo that it is now. They were treated badly and many were worked to death, and it becomes clear that the zoo was actually built on the backs of the slaves.