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 are the effects of guilt? What are some ways in which people may try to work through or cope with guilt? What might happen if a person tries to ignore or live with their guilt?

Teaching Suggestion: A central theme of the novel is Guilt, Forgiveness, and the Healing Power of Love; building additional knowledge about this topic can be beneficial for students. This topic might be difficult for some students if they carry their own guilt or know someone close to them who does; due to the sensitive nature of the question, a private, personal response may work best, such as a journal entry. While guilt is a common topic, studying the resources here can expand students’ understanding, especially of the scientific aspects of guilt.

• This article from Web MD explores guilt’s effects, how guilt can be harmful, and ways to approach guilt.
• This brief article discusses ways to overcome guilt.

Short Activity

One of the novel’s central themes is The Damaging Legacy of the Vietnam War.