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 would you describe or characterize life in 20th-21st century Ireland, specifically from the post-war period until the early 2000s? What kinds of social changes and cultural shifts took place during that time?

Teaching Suggestion: Encourage students to create a foundation for the context of the novel by having a discussion around the post-war period in Ireland. Students with less knowledge of Ireland itself can still draw on their familiarity with the time period, the implications of the end of World War II, and how societies across the world viewed issues such as women’s rights and gay rights during this period.

• This History Today article details how the waning influence of Catholicism led to the secularization of Irish views on topics such as abortion, homosexuality, and birth control.
• This collection of photographs shows the evolution of Dublin, Ireland’s capital, across the decades.

2. Now that you know more about life and social change in Ireland through the 20th century, compare and contrast the major social changes in Ireland with those of another country over the same time period.