The Living

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. What might the lifestyle entail for those who work on cruise ships?

Teaching Suggestion: The protagonist of The Living, Shy, and his friends work on a cruise ship. Studying aspects of that life could help students understand the nuances of the novel’s conflicts and Shy’s perspective and choices. It could be helpful to read the DW article, which offers a more general outlook on the topic, then read the NBC article, illustrating how the expectations for workers aboard cruise ships shifted during the pandemic. When the tsunami hits the ship in the novel, Shy and the others he works with are expected to step up as leaders despite little training and their fear. The NBC article shows a real-life example of these types of expectations.

• “The Truth about Working on a Cruise Ship” from Deutsche Welle, Germany’s public broadcast service, offers insights into the cruise industry, including working conditions.
• This NBC article explores the experiences of people working on cruise ships during the pandemic.

2. What are prevalent ways in which racial inequality continues? What are some effects?

Teaching Suggestion: Shy and his friends experience racial inequality. Starting with any personal knowledge might be important to center student voices. It could also help students more clearly understand the book if they understand the realities of such inequities through texts. Students might participate in a WebQuest or do individual research before a discussion. Though Shy’s cruise ship is not Marriott, an analysis of the hospitality industry’s practices might illuminate some of the experiences on the ship. Students could identify key practices in the article that fuel racial inequity and look for those in the novel.

• This information from Inequality.org includes graphs and analysis of racial and economic inequality.
• This article focuses on how Marriott’s policies contribute to racial inequality.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory freewriting, or reflection homework before reading the novel.

Do you think people are more powerful than nature? Why or why not?

Teaching Suggestion: Perhaps it would help students access and connect with this theme if they brainstorm movies, television shows, or books where nature plays a large role; they might discuss how nature and people interact in these texts. As the class reads the novel, students might revisit ideas uncovered in this discussion and identify ways they connect to Shy’s experience during the tsunami and days at sea.

Differentiation Suggestion: For students who would benefit from additional persuasive speaking practice, adding a research component would build the method of finding trustworthy sources and reliable evidence. Then, they might conduct a debate. NIU offers a debate format that is easily adapted for the classroom.