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 horror movies scare you the most? What makes a movie scary? 

Teaching Suggestion: You can start by giving a few examples of modern horror films or classic stories such as Frankenstein or Dracula. To help students understand what makes a story scary, you can mention the ideas of suspense, death, or gore to connect them to the theme of The Finality of Death.

• This article explains what makes something suspenseful and gives examples from popular movies to analyze different elements of suspense.
• The episode “Eye of the Beholder” of the show The Twilight Zone is a horror classic. This clip could serve as an entry point for a discussion about anticipation, suspense, and irony.
• As an alternative to watching the Twilight Zone, the poem “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe is also a classic example of a suspenseful narrative.

2. Can you think of any cautionary tales, myths, or folktales about dangerous wishes? What are some common themes or lessons from these stories?