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. The year was 1987. United States President Ronald Reagan stood in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and implored: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” What wall was he referring to, and what was the broader political significance of this moment? How did this speech fit into larger Cold War history?

Teaching Suggestion: Use Reagan’s Berlin Wall speech as an entry point into discussing the Cold War, the Iron Curtain, and the Revolutions of 1989, which students will likely have already had some exposure to in their history and/or social studies classes. Broadly speaking, the Cold War was a period of geopolitical tension that split the world in two: The democratic Western Bloc, comprised of the United States and their Western European allies; and the communist Eastern Bloc, led by the Soviet Union and their allies throughout Eastern Europe. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 marked the end of the Iron Curtain and the conclusion of the Cold War. This period in history saw increased espionage on both sides, which heightened matters of Loyalty and Betrayal.