Characters
What is odd about Sophie?
She has an extra toe on each foot.
What does David dream about in chapter 1?
David dreams about a modern city with tall buildings and planes flying over it. It is unfamiliar to him but sounds like many cities today.
Name a book or movie that has a setting similar to Waknuk. Explain one similarity.
Multiple correct responses (ex. Panem from The Hunger Games, Gilead from The Handmaid's Tale)
People who lived before the Tribulation.
The Old People.
Describe second person point of view.
Uses the pronouns "you" to address the reader.
Who was Elias Strorm?
Elias is David's grandfather who established Waknuk after leaving the East due to their ungodly ways.
Why do David's parents tell him and his siblings stories about a man from the Fringes who eats children.
To teach him and his sisters to fear the Fringes and the people who live there.
In the novel, people are ostracized and killed for their differences. Name one real world event that might have inspired this?
The Holocaust or the Civil Rights Movement
An act of disrespect toward God.
Blasphemy
Where should the semi colon or colon go?
I found $5 on the street this morning I couldn’t believe my luck.
I found $5 on the street this morning; I couldn’t believe my luck.
Why doesn't David think of Sophie as a Blasphemy despite how he's been raised?
David does not connect Waknuk's teachings to real life. He thinks an extra toe is too small a difference to count.
What does David reveal to Uncle Axel at the end of chapter 3? Why does he warn David?
David is communicating telepathically with his cousin Rosalind. Waknuk would consider his ability a Deviation which would put him and the other people like him in danger.
This novel was written during the Cold War. Name an aspect of the story that reflects this.
The novel is set in a post nuclear war society. People, animals, and crops are mutated from the radiation.
What are the Fringes?
A lawless land just outside Waknuk where people with abnormalities are sent.
What are two elements of Gothic literature used in one of the short stories you read?
Isolation and pathetic fallacy in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
What does Joseph Strorm's treatment of David after his comment about having another hand reveal about Joseph's character?
He is uncompromising. Joseph takes punishing deviations and what he considers to be acts against God very seriously, even when his own child is involved.
How does Sophie leaving lead to David's father punishing him?
Another kid, Alan sees Sophie's six toed footprint and David knows he will tell the inspector and Joseph. Sophie's parents decide they have to leave to keep Sophie safe. By the time David returns home, his father and the inspector know he is concealing a Blasphemy.
What determines if someone is considered normal or a Blasphemy in Waknuk?
People must match what is described in the Definition of Man as the image of God. Any physical or mental abnormalities are seen as a deviation.
Define indoctrination.
The process of repeating an idea or belief to someone until they accept it without criticism
Identify the rhyme scheme:
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
ABABCC
Which character other than David do you believe to be the most significant thus far? Explain your reasoning.
Multiple correct answers
Ex. I believe Sophie is the most significant character because meeting her is what makes David start to realize the cruelty of his society and reexamine Waknuk's treatment of people with Deviations.
Identify one difference in Sophie and David's upbringings.
Sophie is raised by parents who are caring and accepting of her extra toe, whereas David's view even a minor difference, such as his left handedness, as a potential deviation.
or
Sophie is never punished violently by her parents the way David is by his father. When Mrs. Wender hugs David goodbye, he notes that he has never been held that way by his mother.
How does the novel connect to one of the Canadian historical events you researched?
Multiple correct answers
What was Tribulation?
The catastrophic nuclear event that caused the end of the Old People's civilization and mutated different forms of life.
Describe ethos, pathos, and logos
Ethos: Focuses on trustworthiness of the source
Pathos: Focuses on values and beliefs. Appeals to emotions.
Logos: Focuses on facts and reasoning.