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. How do you think you would react to being trapped deep underground in the dark with very little food and water?

Teaching Suggestion: Prompt students to imagine how being in an underground environment would affect all their senses—e.g., seeing mostly shadows or seeing nothing at all, hearing distant unidentifiable sounds and echoes, the texture and temperature of rocky surfaces, the smell of stagnant air, the taste of contaminated water, etc.

• “Book Review: ‘Deep Down Dark,’ by Héctor Tobar” from the Washington Post describes a book that chronicles the story of 33 Chilean miners trapped underground for 69 days; the review mentions the effect of darkness and hunger on the miners.

2. What goal or purpose might make it worthwhile to plunge into the unknown?

Teaching Suggestion: It may be beneficial to begin with a discussion of leaps of faith or willful ignorance of risk. What role does such a mindset play in an adventure story? Is there a place for it in the real world? You might encourage students to offer examples from books, films, and their own experiences.