Non-Western Storytelling and Connection in Everything Sad Is Untrue

About This Lesson

Through guided close reading and annotation, students closely analyze a passage from Everything Sad Is Untrue, examining how storytelling serves as a bridge between cultural perspectives and facilitates human connection. By reflecting and participating in discussion, students will practice and apply their literary analysis skills to explore how the narrative disrupts traditional Western structures, highlighting the role of relationships and shared experiences in shaping personal and collective identity. 

Essential Question

• What does it mean for something to be “true”? 
• In storytelling, who decides what is true? And why does it matter?
• How can the stories we tell connect us to or separate us from ourselves and others? 

Facing History Learning Outcomes

• Critically and ethically analyze thematic development and literary craft in order to draw connections between the text and their lives.

Lesson Plan

Activity 1: Introduce the Passage and Context

In their journals, have students reflect on the following questions: 

• What are ways that people approach storytelling differently? 
• Can the way a story is told influence our beliefs about what is real and what is fiction?

Provide a brief overview of the context leading up to the passage: Explain that Daniel’s narrative often diverges from traditional, linear Western storytelling structures, and this style reflects both his Iranian heritage and the influence of The Thousand and One Nights. 

Activity 2: Engage in Close Reading and Annotation

Distribute the Student Handout: Close-Reading Lesson 6 and direct students to the relevant passage: pages 300–301, from “Mrs. Miller says I have” to “The legend of my mother.” Ask students to read the passage silently, encouraging them to use the annotation guide and to underline or highlight phrases that stand out to them, particularly those related to non-Western storytelling and the power of connection.

Activity 3: Participate in Small-Group Discussions

Divide the class into small groups and provide them with the following discussion questions:

1. What is your “golden line” from this passage? Share one or two sentences that resonate with you and explain why.
2. What does Daniel mean when he says that Mrs. Miller is “beholden to a Western mode of storytelling”? What is different about Daniel’s approach to storytelling? What is significant about that difference? 
3. How might this “non-Western” approach affect the way a Western audience, like his peers in Oklahoma, connect with or struggle to connect with his stories? Why does this matter in the context of the story as a whole?
4. According to Daniel, what is the true purpose of the stories in The Thousand and One Nights? How might this “true purpose” relate to the idea of the need for connection between people?
5. Daniel says that “the stories aren’t the thing. The thing is the story of the story.” What does he mean by this? How does this perspective connect to, extend, or challenge the way you have thought about storytelling in the past?
6. How does this passage reflect Daniel’s Persian cultural heritage? How does it connect to, extend, or challenge your ideas of truth, memory, and the human experience?
7. How does this passage challenge or reinforce your personal assumptions about truth, memory, the purpose of storytelling? How does it impact your perspective about yourself and your interpretation of the world?

After the discussion, ask each group to share their insights with the class.

Activity 4: Write a Personal Reflection

Have students individually reflect on the following prompt in their journals: 

• Consider a time when you shared a story with someone, or someone shared a story with you. What was more important: the events of the story itself, or the connection you felt with the other person? How does this reflection relate to what Daniel is saying in the passage?

Challenge students to consider how their reflection connects to the passage they analyzed or the book as a whole.

Activity 5: Debrief in a Whole-Class Discussion

Bring the class back together to discuss the following prompt: 

• Daniel’s reflections on storytelling challenge Western, linear narrative structures while also highlighting the power of connection, empathy, and shared experiences. To what extent does structure affect the way others connect to our stories and ultimately connect to us? What is your preferred way of telling or listening to stories?