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. A common symbol throughout literature is the garden. What stories have you read that feature a garden? Was the garden a positive or negative environment? What do you associate with gardens in literature?

Teaching Suggestion: It might be helpful to have a prepared list of books or short stories that include gardens in the setting to help students approach this discussion. Some possible titles include The Secret Garden, The Great Gatsby, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Alice in Wonderland, The Importance of Being Earnest, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

• “Great Literary Gardens: From Hamlet to Lady Chatterly’s Lover” from the Financial Times explores the various symbolic meanings of the garden, from romance and sexuality to political metaphor.

2. Often, religion and science are pitted against each other in literature and everyday life. What stories have you read (or movies have you seen) that polarize science and religion? Why are science and religion so often seen as incompatible?

Teaching Suggestion: It might be helpful to have a prepared list of books, short stories, TV shows, and movies that set science and religion against each other to get the discussion started.