Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What does the phrase “win at all costs” mean? In what kinds of contexts does this phrase often come up? When people say this, do you think they really mean that it is acceptable to do anything at all in order to win?

Teaching Suggestion: This question requires students to parse the difference between sincere effort and the obsessive, perhaps destructive, pursuit of a goal. It may be helpful to first show students the idiomatic dictionary entry for “at all costs” (linked below) and help them see that there are two main parts to this idea: a refusal to set limits on effort and a refusal to set limits on cost to self or others. As a follow-up, you might show them the video linked below and ask them to explain how it conflates effort with cost in a way that ignores the reality that many costs are too great to bear in exchange for a win.

• This brief entry in an idiomatic dictionary explains the meaning of the phrase “at all costs.