How does jealousy motivate someone like Lavinia? Why is she jealous of a little girl, when she's already a teenager?
Speaking of little girls, why is Miss Minchin—a grown woman—so jealous of a little girl, anyway? What's her deal?
Why doesn't Sara feel envious of the other students when she's treated poorly and forced to live in poverty?
What does Sara have that no one else has, even when she's poor? Does anyone seem to be jealous of that?
Questions About Suffering
Does Sara ever find her situation unbearable? Why or why not? What seems to be her lowest point?
What do you think is worse on Sara—her emotional or physical suffering?
How does her situation compare to someone like Becky's? Would you say that Sara suffer more, less, or about the same as Becky?
Does Miss Minchin deliberately make things worse for Sara? Is she actively trying to make Sara suffer?
Questions About Isolation
What helps Sara to pass the time when she's up in that little room of hers? Does she always feel isolated?
What role do characters like Becky and Ermengarde serve in the story? How do they help Sara feel companionship? What kind of comfort do they provide?
When is Sara at her loneliest? What does being lonely look like, for Sara?
Is Miss Minchin a lonely character? Can we blame her behavior on the fact that she's lonely?
Questions About Perseverance
What's the deal with Miss Minchin? Why won't she give up on harassing poor Sara?
Why doesn't Sara just snap and throw a fit, already? Does she have any hope that her situation will get better some day?
Why does Mr. Carrisford keep looking for Sara when he doesn't even know her name?
What would have happened if Sara wasn't so determined to keep going?
Questions About Courage
Why doesn't Sara just give up when faced with all the bad things happening to her?
Is Sara's courage really the courage of a British soldier? What different kinds of courage does the book show?
What is the worst part of Sara's situation, and how does she overcome it?
Is Ermengarde a brave character? Is Lottie?
Questions About Transformation
How does Sara change throughout the book?
Is Sara's change purely based off of whether or not she has money, or does it go deeper?
Does Miss Minchin change at all throughout the book?
How does Mr. Carrisford undergo a transformation at the end?
Questions About Appearances
How do people perceive Sara differently by the way she's dressed? Why do we get so many descriptions of clothes?
Does Lavinia just hate Sara because of her nice clothes? Or is it more?
Why doesn't Mr. Carrisford consider that Sara might be at the school next door?
Questions About Society and Class
Why does class matter so much to the characters in the book?
How are people like Sara and Becky considered "different" at the beginning of the book? Are they still different at the end, or can we see them as more similar?
What happens when Sara falls in station in society? How do other people react?
How much does Miss Minchin care about class rather than money? Or are money and class the same to her?
Questions About Poverty
How does Sara's newfound poverty affect her? Are there any differences between the way she acts when she's poor and when she's rich?
How does poverty change the way that people look at Sara?
Are Sara's imagination and sense of whimsy changed by the fact that she's poor?
