Part 1: The Death of Innocents
Audience:
Middle School and Young Adult.
If this book is elective reading, it is important that it be matched to the proper kind of reader. If the student does not like learning terms for a make-believe world or does not like books that blend reality and fantasy, then they will not like the book. The culture in the created world is fairly science-centric as well as being fantasy based. So if the student equates science with "school work", they are unlikely to enjoy the book. Also in the two-thirds of part 1, the characters are in a school like setting (visualizing places outside of school in a virtual reality format). Students adverse to school may not want to be reminded of that setting in their casual reading.
Terms and Concepts:
DNA, genetic engineering, genetics, Big Bang theory of the Universe, time paradox (paradox), time travel, randomness, determinism, protoplasm, DNA synthesizer.
Skills Imparted:
Comfort with the terms of genetics/genetic engineering, comfort with cosmological terms, basic/intermediate philosophical reasoning(depends on student maturity).
Preparation:
Some students I have noticed have trouble with the concept of time being fluid. For them, time only moves forward. If one looks back, a stake must be planted defining the present precisely. The novel floats the readers point of view along a time line without establishing firmly what is the present and what is the past. It is especially blurred when a character knows what the future will be and wants that future to occur. So the future they are taught when they are young and the present time they are living in become indistinguishable. An extension of this is characters traveling back to the past to insure there form of the future happens. By insuring the actions in the past match what they remember, the insure that their future will occur and that they won't cease to exist. It might be useful to talk about time travel and what are the implications of traveling through time. The concept of cloning is used throughout the novel. Make sure that students have an idea of what cloning is. The novel extends the cloning idea to one of taking a genetic sample, altering it, and then growing the clone. Thus, clones may be close but not exactly identical. Present day news articles on genetic engineering may be helpful.
Discussion Questions:
What I want to put in this section is a set of questions that will challenge the student to think deeper about the novel. These questions could be used to form the seed of an essay or of a class discussion. I intended to try and put questions here keyed to a spectrum of student skill levels. Feel free to email me at Rusty at takarus dot com with comments and suggestions. The current status of these questions is that they are a brain dump from me. One gifted program who is an early reader of the novel asked for something to challenge their students so here they are. Eventually, I will try and divide the questions according to skill level. Right now there could very well be college level questions mixed in here.1. Was it wise for Stefan’s mom to read him the Book of Time when he was little?
2. Does your knowledge determine your destiny?
3. Why does Ty spout his words of wisdom?
4. Ty: “It scares him to think that his thoughts and feelings would be irrelevant, usurped by an inanimate sequence of chemicals.” Are people’s thoughts and feelings controlled by an inanimate sequence of chemicals?
5. “Randomness is the core of life,” blurts Ty, as if he has just revealed a treasured secret. “Only the mind straightens it into love and harmony.” What do think Ty meant and why do you think it is true or false?
6. Is all of our technology reverse engineered from life? Explain.
7. Is Elof2 the teacher or the student? Explain.
8. Is Tova2 the person, Tova, brought back from the dead or is she a totally different person?
9. What do you think are the roots of cynicism? Do you think the book gets it right?
10. What is the basis for Ty and Tyco’s relationship? Are they good friends or do they exploit each other? Explain.
11. Is Syon useful? Explain.
12. Is the Book of Time the controller or recorder of time? How can you tell?
13. Is a biologically perfect child possible?
14. Tova2’s dad’s death: random, accidental, destiny, or homicide?
15. Is engineering another life form a form of violence? Is genetic engineering compatible with the Sophistan culture’s pacifism?
16. Do Elof2 and Tova really love each other?
17. Does Elof2 function as Paul7’s parent?
18. Is Elof2 doomed to be a parent in the same way as his father? Is his relationship with Paul7 different?
19. If a mind sprouts from a randomness driven process is there any difference between determinism and randomness?
