89 pages • 2 hours read
Clemantine Wamariya, Elizabeth WeilThe Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2018A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
During Reading
Reading Questions & Paired Texts
Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.
PROLOGUE-CHAPTER 4
Reading Check
1. In 2006, Wamariya and her older sister Claire prepare to appear on The Oprah Winfrey Show with what celebrated writer, activist, and Holocaust survivor?
2. When Wamariya and Claire flee their grandmother’s house in Butare, they run through a field filled with what type of plant?
3. In 2000, Wamariya and Claire leave Rwanda and arrive in what U.S. city?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. After her appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, how did Wamariya feel about the experience? Specifically, how did she feel about having her story shared with the world?
2. What is Wamariya’s relationship to time, as described in Chapter 2? What helps her make sense of time?
3. What is Wamariya’s reaction to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001? What does her reaction say about her overall life experiences, up until that point?
Paired Resource
“Rwandan Genocide Survivors Reunited with Their Family After 12 Years | The Oprah Winfrey Show”
- This clip features the moment from “The Oprah Show,” when, in 2006, Wamariya and her sister, Claire, were reunited with their parents after 12 years.
- This video highlights Wamariya’s fight for Survival, and touches upon the Reality of Life as a Refugee.
- Why does Belise say that she feels like one of the “lucky ones”? Do you agree?
CHAPTERS 5-9
Reading Check
1. In Chapter 5, why do Wamariya and Claire move to Zaire?
2. As Wamariya makes her way to a safer refugee camp in Malawi in Chapter 7, what is her only personal possession that brings her comfort?
3. What nationality are the people who run the refugee camp in Maputo, which Wamariya finds to be “surprisingly nice” (133)?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Why does the word “genocide” offend Wamariya?
2. What incident happens to Wamariya in Chapter 8, which causes all of her classmates to avoid her from that point on?
3. Why does Wamariya believe it is bad to accept help from other people, as she describes in Chapter 9?
Paired Resource
“Inside the Book: Clemantine Wamariya (THE GIRL WHO SMILED BEADS)”
- In this video interview for Penguin Random House, Wamariya gives an overview of her memoir and also provides some insight into the origins of the book’s title.
- Wamariya discusses how her life’s story goes beyond a mere Survival narrative, and her hope for those who read it.
- What does Wamariya mean when she says that the book is not about survival, but evolving beyond survival?
CHAPTERS 10-14
Reading Check
1. In Chapter 10, Wamariya mentions that Claire has a “shield” that helps her tolerate life’s horrors (138). What is this “shield”?
2. After leaving the Maputo camp, Claire and Wamariya make their way to what country?
3. In Chapter 12, Wamariya finds out that she is waitlisted at what prestigious university?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. In Chapter 11, how does Linda help Wamariya, both materially and also emotionally?
2. When invited to speak at a luncheon at the Midwest office of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, how does the experience make Wamariya feel?
3. In Chapter 14, Wamariya writes that she believes that equality can only be achieved how?
Paired Resource
“Two Sisters on Life Post-Genocide | When We Listen”
- In this brief clip for StoryCorps, Claire and Wamariya discuss their shared history of rebuilding in the U.S.
- Wamariya expresses how, upon arrival in the U.S., she felt a severe sense of Dehumanization and Loss of Identity.
- What is Claire’s relationship to the word “auntie”? How does this title give her a sense of identity?
CHAPTERS 15-18
Reading Check
1. Rather than go home for the summer, Wamariya and her boyfriend Zach go to a summer program via Yale held in what country?
2. When Wamariya visits Disneyland in Chapter 17, she is reminded of what personal possession from her past?
3. Who appoints Wamariya to the board of the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. As described in Chapter 15, how do Claire and Wamariya feel about the prospect of going to the United States?
2. At Yale, why does Wamariya get into conflict with fellow Black students?
3. How does the book On the Natural History of Destruction by W.G. Sebald change Wamariya’s life?
Paired Resource
“War and What Comes After | Clemantine Wamariya”
- In this TED Talks appearance, Wamariya discusses her abhorrence for the word “genocide.”
- Similar to the way in which Wamariya felt Dehumanization as a refugee, she argues that the word “genocide” sanitizes and distances the concept from the harsh reality of what a genocide actually entails.
- What do you think about her statement about genocide that “words will never be enough”?
CHAPTERS 19-22
Reading Check
1. In Chapter 19, after Wamariya graduates from college, she and her boyfriend Ryan decide to move to what state?
2. While in Rwanda participating in a government-run program to clean up the community, Wamariya is disturbed to find what object while clearing an overgrown field?
3. At the Basilica of Saint Paul, Wamariya’s mother looks for which saint?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. In Chapter 19, what realization does Wamariya come to, regarding her (somewhat flawed) approach toward caring for Claire’s children?
2. Why does Wamariya find it hard to accept that her boyfriend (Ryan) is sincere when he tells her that he loves her?
3. How does Wamariya end her memoir? Is the overall tone more optimistic or pessimistic about the future?
Recommended Next Reads
Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust by Immaculee Ilibagiza
- Left to Tell is the autobiography of Ilibagiza, who survived the Rwandan genocide in 1994.
- Both Wamariya’s and Ilibagiza’s life stories are ones of Survival, which are shaped by The Colonization and Abandonment of Rwanda.
- While Wamariya flees Rwanda at the onset of the massacre, Ilibagiza stays in the country, therefore providing a different perspective on the same life-shattering event.
- Left to Tell on SuperSummary
How Dare the Sun Rise: Memoirs of a War Child by Sandra Uwiringiyimana with Abigail Pesta
- How Dare the Sun Rise is Uwiringiyimana’s memoir of escaping war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, immigrating to America, and then overcoming her trauma through activism and art.
- Like Wamariya, Uwiringiyimana’s story deals with The Reality of Life as a Refugee, along with Privilege in America.
- Though How Dare the Sun Rise does not specifically address colonialism and its legacy, much of the turmoil in the Democratic Republic of Congo, like Rwanda, can be traced back to colonialist power struggles.
- How Dare the Sun Rise on SuperSummary
Reading Questions Answer Key
PROLOGUE-CHAPTER 4
Reading Check
Short Answer
1. Wamariya had mixed feelings about the experience. She was overjoyed to see her parents again; however, she felt conflicted to have her joy and pain “consumed by the masses.” (Prologue)
2. She feels as though time is refusing to move in an orderly, linear fashion. Events in her life feel fragmented, and so to make sense of time, she takes to documenting little items from her past. (Chapter 2)
3. Wamariya wonders why people are so upset, when death/destruction of one’s home happens to people everywhere all the time. In this moment, Wamariya is jaded and scornful. The indignities and dehumanization she suffered in refugee camp in Burundi prior to arriving in America, along with the having to separate from her parents to flee the Rwandan genocide—all of these experiences have emotionally scarred her. (Chapter 4)
CHAPTERS 5-9
Reading Check
1. To be near Rob’s family (Chapter 5)
2. A Mickey and Minnie Mouse backpack (Chapter 7)
3. Italian (Chapter 9)
Short Answer
1. Because the word does not contain the brutal, intensely painful experiences of the millions of people who must endure it. The word only serves politicians, who are removed from real-life atrocities. (Chapter 6)
2. She is supposed to perform an improvisation in which she expresses herself using only personal objects: She chooses a lavender pillow given to her by Mrs. Thomas and a photo of her niece and nephew. However, when she realizes that her performance reveals nothing about herself, she awkwardly calls Rob from her cell phone onstage, telling him that she will “never trust anyone again” (Chapter 8)
3. She believes that, if you accept help from other people, they feel as though they have the right to take advantage of you later in life. She prefers to be self-sufficient at all times (Chapter 9)
CHAPTERS 10-14
Reading Check
Short Answer
1. Linda invites Claire and Wamariya to her home for a large meal, including ice cream. She also helps them find an apartment. But more than that, Wamariya appreciates Linda for seeing her as the child that she is. (Chapter 11)
2. She finds it both strange and rewarding. She recognizes that even the kindest individuals with the best intentions cannot truly understand her. She feels conflicted about having to assume the role of “Oprah’s special genocide survivor” when in public (Chapter 12)
3. She thinks that the “haves” and the “have nots” must realize that boxing ourselves into “tiny cubbies based on class, race, ethnicity, religion […] comes from a poverty of the mind” (177). She thinks sharing is the only way that people can reach a sense of common humanity. (Chapter 14)
CHAPTERS 15-18
Reading Check
Short Answer
1. Claire thinks of the United States as the ultimate land of hustling and rewards. Both Claire and Wamariya think of the United States as a land of opportunity, where everyone is rich. Even so, Wamariya cries on the flight to Chicago, because she feels as though no one would find them now. (Chapter 15)
2. Wamariya is frustrated by how her fellow Black students instigate debates around “less seemly” parts of African culture, particularly around the subjugation of women. Her classmates, who are largely from wealthy families, complain that Wamariya’s views are influenced by the “white man’s view of the African mess” (214). (Chapter 16)
3. The book is about the Holocaust, and the author plays with time and space as he pieces together the story of his life. Wamariya learns from the book that we live in “all times and places at once”; she realizes she can use her memories to figure out who she is in the present, and to find greater connection in the world. (Chapter 17)
CHAPTERS 19-22
Reading Check
Short Answer
1. Due to her difficult life, she’s never had the luxury of being a gentle protector of the children; rather, her care of them was “militarized” in order to keep them from immediate death and bodily harm (237). She acknowledges that her own brokenness causes her to take out her anger on the children sometimes. (Chapter 19)
2. This is mostly due to Wamariya’s difficult relationship to men and her body: She feels as though her body has been “stolen,” and tries not to depend on men to reclaim her power. These feelings make it hard for her to have an intimate relationship with Ryan. (Chapter 20)
3. Wamariya’s memoir concludes in an open-ended way, offering a vision of hope for the future—despite not knowing exactly what the future entails. Still, no matter what happens, Wamariya will be taking control of her own narrative going forward, as indicated by the vision of her opening her notebook at the memoir’s conclusion. (Chapter 22)
