English 11 AP
Woebel
Cat’s Cradle Discussion Questions
As a famous author of the “counterculture” during the 1960s and 1970s, Vonnegut uses humor and satire
to “tackle the basic questions of human existence: Why are we in this world? Is there a presiding figure to
make sense of all this, a god who in the end, despite making people suffer, wishes them well?” (Smith).
How is the novel exploring these questions so far? How is the religion “Bokononism” used to question
religions in our society? How is Dr. Hoeinikker’s research used to question the power of science in our
society? What was taking place in 1963 when this novel was published? How are these themes still
relevant today? What other social commentary do you see taking place so far?
The “defining moment” in Vonnegut’s life was “the firebombing of Dresden, Germany, by Allied forces
in 1945, an event he witnessed firsthand as a young prisoner of war. Thousands of civilians were killed in
the raids, many of them burned to death or asphyxiated. ‘The firebombing of Dresden,’ Mr. Vonnegut
wrote, ‘was a work of art.’ It was, he added, ‘a tower of smoke and flame to commemorate the rage and
heartbreak of so many who had had their lives warped or ruined by the indescribable greed and vanity and
cruelty of Germany’ (Smith). How might this experience have helped shape Cat’s Cradle?
Smith, Dinitia. “Kurt Vonnegut, Counterculture’s Novelist, Dies.” New York Times. 13 April 2007. Web.
5 July 2011.
Additional Discussion Points – Annotate these ideas throughout your book. At the end of this unit, you
will be required to write a mini-research paper. Considering some of these ideas will help you formulate a
thesis statement.
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Are there any noticeable themes present in the text?
Do you see any motifs/symbols of importance?
Are there particularly unique traits in main or supporting characters?
Does a particular theoretical reading lend itself to the text? (Marxist, African American, Feminist,
Reader-Response, Psychoanalysis, gay/lesbian, etc.)
Do you see any interesting parallels between the author’s life and the story? (Take some time to
research about your author, but beware of spoilers before you finish your novel!)
Are there particularly interesting connections to history or allusions to
literature/mythology/religion?
Does the author take interesting liberties with the language or structure of the text? How is this
important in the development of the novel?
English 11 AP
Woebel
Anthem Discussion Questions
Figurative language is used sparingly in this novella. Discuss the meaning and significance of the
following similes:
 “We blew out the candle. Darkness swallowed us. There was nothing left around us, nothing save
night and a thin thread of flame in it, as a crack in the wall of a prison” (59-60).
 “But International 4-8818 are different. They are a tall, strong young and their eyes are like
fireflies” (29).
 “[Liberty’s] body was straight and thin as a blade of iron…Their hair was golden as the sun” (38).
 “The shoulders of our Brothers are hunched, and their muscles are drawn, as if their bodies were
shrinking and wished to shrink out of sight” (46).
Discuss the symbolic importance of the Uncharted Forest and the light bulb.
Discuss the irony of the character’s names.
Equality states that it is very unusual for men to reach the age of 45. Offer explanations for this life
expectancy.
What does Equality mean when he says, “We are old now, yet we were young this morning” (68)?
Additional Discussion Points – Annotate these ideas throughout your book. At the end of this unit, you
will be required to write a mini-research paper. Considering some of these ideas will help you formulate a
thesis statement.







Are there any noticeable themes present in the text?
Do you see any motifs/symbols of importance?
Are there particularly unique traits in main or supporting characters?
Does a particular theoretical reading lend itself to the text? (Marxist, African American, Feminist,
Reader-Response, Psychoanalysis, gay/lesbian, etc.)
Do you see any interesting parallels between the author’s life and the story? (Take some time to
research about your author, but beware of spoilers before you finish your novel!)
Are there particularly interesting connections to history or allusions to
literature/mythology/religion?
Does the author take interesting liberties with the language or structure of the text? How is this
important in the development of the novel?
English 11 AP
Woebel
The Road Discussion Questions
How is McCarthy able to make the post-apocalyptic world of The Road seem so real and utterly
terrifying? Which descriptive passages are especially vivid and visceral in their depiction of this blasted
landscape? What do you find to be the most horrifying features of this world and the survivors who
inhabit it?
McCarthy doesn't make explicit what kind of catastrophe has ruined the earth and destroyed human
civilization, but what might be suggested by the many descriptions of a scorched landscape covered in
ash? What is implied by the father's statement that, "On this road there are no godspoke men. They are
gone and I am left and they have taken with them the world" (32)?
Why do you think the author left out quotation marks and apostrophes in his dialogue? Consider how the
writing matched the bare bones of their existence.
Additional Discussion Points – Annotate these ideas throughout your book. At the end of this unit, you
will be required to write a mini-research paper. Considering some of these ideas will help you formulate a
thesis statement.







Are there any noticeable themes present in the text?
Do you see any motifs/symbols of importance?
Are there particularly unique traits in main or supporting characters?
Does a particular theoretical reading lend itself to the text? (Marxist, African American, Feminist,
Reader-Response, Psychoanalysis, gay/lesbian, etc.)
Do you see any interesting parallels between the author’s life and the story? (Take some time to
research about your author, but beware of spoilers before you finish your novel!)
Are there particularly interesting connections to history or allusions to
literature/mythology/religion?
Does the author take interesting liberties with the language or structure of the text? How is this
important in the development of the novel?
English 11 AP
Woebel
The Handmaid’s Tale Discussion Questions
Read the following interview with Margaret Atwood about her reasons for writing The Handmaid’s Tale.
Use her ideas to fuel a discussion about the themes in the novel.
An Interview with Margaret Atwood on Her Novel The Handmaid's Tale
Q: Was there any special research involved in writing The Handmaid's Tale?
A: I clipped articles out of newspapers. I now have a large clippings file of stories supporting the
contentions in the book. In other words, there isn't anything in the book not based on something that has
already happened in history or in another country, or for which actual supporting documentation is not
already available.
Q: It's hard to pin down a genre for this novel. Is it science fiction?
A: No, it certainly isn't science fiction. Science fiction is filled with Martians and space travel to other
planets, and things like that. That isn't this book at all. The Handmaid's Tale is speculative fiction in the
genre of Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Nineteen Eighty-Four was written not as science fiction
but as an extrapolation of life in 1948. So, too, The Handmaid's Tale is a slight twist on the society we have
now.
Q: You seem to see a role for the novel beyond entertainment.
A: I was once a graduate student in Victorian literature and I believe as the Victorian novelists did, that a
novel isn't simply a vehicle for private expression, but that it also exists for social examination. I firmly
believe this.
Q: What are we to learn from The Handmaid's Tale?
A: This is a book about what happens when certain casually held attitudes about women are taken to
their logical conclusions. For example, I explore a number of conservative opinions still held by many-such as a woman's place is in the home. And also certain feminist pronouncements--women prefer the
company of other women, for example. Take these beliefs to their logical ends and see what happens. As
a writer, you can chose to create a mainstream novel in which these issues appear only as the characters
discuss them sitting around the kitchen table. But I decided to take these positions and dramatize them,
carry them to their furthest logical conclusions.
Q: Why the intense focus on fertility in Gilead?
A: In a society in which the birthrate plummets below replacement, that body of people will be forced to
determine whether or not it will simply slide gently into oblivion and vanish from the face of the earth.
(One theory is there that will be no Germans by the year 2020 because their birthrate is so low; Germany
is going to be Turkish.) Scandinavian countries are now below replacement, as is Romania. What does a
society do at this point? Either it accepts the situation or it puts into existence conditions that will
increase the number of births.
Q: So in Gilead this process is taken to what you see as a logical conclusion?
A: Yes. It is a society in which you have a sort of "farming" of women. Parallel to that, you have to
realize that male sterility is on the increase and so are spontaneous miscarriages and birth defects. How
could this be? It's because we are pouring about 300,000 different chemicals into our water and drinking
it. Plus, of course, there's a great deal of radiation. They've found PCBs in polar bears and they are
worried about the future of the polar bear species because PCBs build up in their systems and produce
male sterility. So fertility in Gilead is at a premium. Fertile women, women who can reproduce, are prize
objects for those in power. And as is the case in which prize objects are Cadillacs and you want to have
as many Cadillacs as you possibly can, so too when the prize objects are fertile women, then you want to
have as many fertile women as possible. Thus in Gilead we return to biblical polygamy.
Q: But wouldn't there be violent resistance against a system such as Gilead?
A: Yes, of course we would have resistance. After all, this is United States and it is North America and it
is a pluralistic society and we have many people with differing points of view. A number of people
would not take this lying down.
Additional Discussion Points – Annotate these ideas throughout your book. At the end of this unit, you
will be required to write a mini-research paper. Considering some of these ideas will help you formulate a
thesis statement.







Are there any noticeable themes present in the text?
Do you see any motifs/symbols of importance?
Are there particularly unique traits in main or supporting characters?
Does a particular theoretical reading lend itself to the text? (Marxist, African American, Feminist,
Reader-Response, Psychoanalysis, gay/lesbian, etc.)
Do you see any interesting parallels between the author’s life and the story? (Take some time to
research about your author, but beware of spoilers before you finish your novel!)
Are there particularly interesting connections to history or allusions to
literature/mythology/religion?
Does the author take interesting liberties with the language or structure of the text? How is this
important in the development of the novel?
English 11 AP
Woebel