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 myths have you read or studied in school? How does a myth differ from an allegory, and what is the purpose of these story structures? Are all myths religious, or can some of them be secular? Why?

Teaching Suggestion: This Short Answer question relates to the theme of Saving Books and Information from Erasure. To introduce this theme, consider discussing the following resources together as a class. Students may benefit from reflecting on the characteristics of allegory and myth, as these elements appear in the novel.

• This page from Oregon State University discusses the definition of allegory and explores examples through a video and written transcript (Note: A Spanish translation of the transcript is available).
• This article from World History Encyclopedia explains the purpose of three different types of myths and discusses historical examples.

2. What is a utopia, and where does the concept come from? What are some examples of utopias in literature, film, or even videogames? How might the idea of the “end times” relate to this concept? Why do writers continue to explore the end times and utopias in their work?