1 Study Guide for SONG of EXTINCTION

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Study Guide for SONG OF EXTINCTION (a play by E. M. Lewis)

Prepared by Robert F. Cohen, Ph.D.

Director, Hostos Book-of-the-Semester Project

Fall 2012

SONG OF EXTINCTION by E. M. Lewis

Pre-reading Activities

A. Considering the Title: Song of Extinction In small groups, consider these questions.

1. Do the words “song” and “extinction” have positive or negative associations, or both? ______

2. Is there a difference between “extinction” (verb = extinguish) and “extermination” (verb = exterminate)? Are they both “natural” processes, or is one more natural than the other? ______

3. Is the title of the play a positive one or a negative one? Write down the thoughts of the members of your group here.

______

B. Identifying the Characters and Visualizing the Setting

1. Setting the Stage for the Action

Look at the information given for each character, as well as the setting. Note their ages, and any dates. Where does the story take place?

CHARACTERS

KHIM PHAN (55) – Max’s biology teacher. Cambodian. He’s been in the US since 1979. MAX FORRESTAL (15) – Son of Ellery and Lily. Sophomore in high school. Plays the viola and piano, and has some talent as a composer. Wears glasses and appears uncomfortable in his clothes. ELLERY FORRESTAL (47) – A biologist. Wears glasses and appears uncomfortable in his clothes. LILY FORRESTAL (45) – Ellery’s wife. Writes high school science textbooks. Has stomach cancer. DR. JOSHUA DORSEY (28) – A doctor, just out of residency. GILL MORRIS – CEO of a large corporation which owns (and plans to deforest) an area of the Bolivian jungle where Ellery Forrestal has worked for the last twelve years.

SETTING Portland, Oregon Multiple locations: office, hospital room, classroom, kitchen, Golf course, bus stop, noodle shop, Bolivia

2. Mapping the Action

There is a connection in the story between Cambodia, Bolivia and Portland, Oregon. Find these places on a map of the world. Enter the distances in miles between:

Cambodia and Portland, Oregon: ______

Portland, Oregon, and Bolivia: ______

Bolivia and Cambodia: ______

3. Understanding the Historical Context

Khim Phan came to the United States from Cambodia in 1979. Why may he have come to the United States at that time? What happened in Cambodia in the 1970s? Do Internet research to see what you can find. Identify these terms:

Khmer Rouge

Pol Pot

Democratic Kampuchea

social engineering

4. Predicting the Action: Script-Writing Exercise

Based on the descriptions and the setting, what stories do you imagine will contribute to the action? What relationships will exist between the characters? Working with a partner, write short potential dialogues between the following characters: a. Khim Phan and Max Forrestal (teacher and student) b. Ellery Forrestal and Max Forrestal (father and son) c. Ellery Forrestal and Lily Forrestal (husband and wife) d. Dr. Joshua Dorsey and Lily Forrestal (patient and doctor) e. Lily Forrestal and Max Forrestal (mother and son) f. Ellery Forrestal and Gill Morris (scientist and businessman)

Keep these dialogues in mind as you read the play. While you read it, see in what ways your “predictions” were correct.

Reading Activities

Scene One (p. 7)

A. General Understanding: Summarizing Work with a partner. Write a one-paragraph summary (not more than 5 sentences) of the action in this scene.

B. Open for Discussion Discuss these questions in small groups.

1. The playwright has given us no words here for Khim Phan, Max, and Ellery; she only provides directions for the actors. Why aren’t words always necessary to bring a play to life? Why can more be said sometimes without words? Is a scene without words harder or easier for the actors to perform?

2. Khim Phan: “With us, he is watching …”

It seems that the playwright has given Khim Phan, along with us, the readers and the audience, the role of observer. As you read the play, try to determine why the teacher has been given this role. What occurrences in his life have qualified him to assume this responsibility? How do those experiences connect with the different interpretations of “extinction” that will surface in the play?

3. What does this first scene tell us about the relationship between Max and Ellery? What, in fact, does Khim Phan, the teacher, see?

4. The metronome itself seems to become a character in the play. In what way does its beat measure more than the tempo of the music? With its “slow, relentless rising sound” (7), what kind of tone does it characterize? One of silence? calm? tension? urgency?

5. Why do you believe the playwright decided to have the scene take place in the darkness? What can darkness represent?

C. Writing Incentive: Dramatic Portrayals Working in small groups, write one of the following: a. a monologue by Max b. a dialogue between Max and Ellery

Be prepared to perform your work in front of the class.

Scene Two (p. 8)

A. General Understanding: Summarizing Work with a partner. Write a one-paragraph summary (not more than 5 sentences) of the action in this scene.

B. Open for Discussion Discuss these questions in small groups.

1. What do you think Khim Phan means when he says, “But I remember extinction and it was not clean” (8)?

2. How does Khim Phan’s previous remark tell us that for him “science” is not “a safe place from memory”? What in his memory may have taught him that “extinction” is not always a natural process?

3. What mood does Khim Phan’s image of himself as “a butterfly tree, their [i.e. the butterflies’] soft feet settling on my skin like whispers” create? How are those “whispers” in contrast with the “beats” of the metronome that separate each part of his monologue?

4. How does the image of butterflies relate to the theme of “extinction”? How long a lifespan does a butterfly have? Would you characterize the metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly a process of natural extinction? Why or why not? What category of living things do butterflies belong to?

5. The “lights” are turned off after we hear Khim Phan describe the image of the butterflies “with yellow wings” coming down “glimmer glimmer in the sunlight and [lighting] on [him].” Why is the character’s reference to the reflective light of the butterflies punctuated by the stagehand’s turning off (extinguishing) of the light? How has the playwright created an effective theatrical device here?

C. Writing Incentive: Expressing an Opinion Discuss these questions with a partner. Then write an opinion essay in response to one of them.

1. Khim Phan alludes to sometimes telling his students personal things about himself that go beyond the subject of biology that he teaches. While teaching, should a teacher ever make allusions to his or her personal life? Why or why not?

2. Khim Phan says, “I have no children. No wife. No family. Maybe I don’t want any. I just have these…” Can the students that Khim Phan “stand[s] up in front of … in the classroom every day, seven thirty in the morning to three o’clock” compensate for a lack of family in his life? Why or why not?

Song of Extinction Study Guide prepared by Robert F. Cohen Hostos Book-of-the-Semester Project Fall 2012

Scene Three (pp. 9-11)

A. General Understanding: Summarizing Work with a partner. Write a one-paragraph summary (not more than 5 sentences) of the action in this scene.

B. Open for Discussion Discuss these questions in small groups.

1. Do you believe Ellery is more interested in the survival of the Bolivian insect (an endangered species) than he is in his son’s survival? Yes or no? What “evidence” in the scene could you use in support of your point of view? How do you think Max would answer the question?

2. How does Max show interest in his father? Despite his anger towards his father, how does he also display a sense of humor?

3. How does the lack of stock in the refrigerator relate to the theme of extinction?

4. Ellery “closes his eyes for a moment” (11) after Max tells him he “hate[s] everything about [him].” What is the meaning of this gesture?

5. Why do you believe Max eventually takes the money his father has given him? Is money a sign of the father’s love? Why or why not?

Scene Four (pp. 12-13)

A. General Understanding: Summarizing Work with a partner. Write a one-paragraph summary (not more than 5 sentences) of the action in this scene.

B. Open for Discussion Discuss these questions in small groups.

1. What does Dr. Joshua Dorsey have difficulty telling his patient, Lily Forrestal? Do you believe doctors with more experience find this easier to do? Why or why not?

2. Why does Dr. Dorsey offer to call for a chaplain and give Lily his cell phone number? Do you agree with this gesture? Why or why not?

3. If you were in Lily’s predicament, would you want to be made aware of it? Why or why not?

C. Writing Incentive: Dramatic Portrayals Working in pairs, write a monologue on this topic:

You have just been told that you have a week to live. Describe what you would do, if possible, in this last week of your life.

Be prepared to perform your work in front of the class.

Scene Five (pp.14-16)

A. General Understanding

True or False? Work with a partner. Decide if the statements are True or False. If they are False, decide what you must do to make them True.

_____1. The subspecies of Dynastidae Strategus that Ellery discovered in the Bañados del Izozog region of Bolivia is endemic to that region.

_____2. Gill is very patient with Ellery Forrestal.

_____3. Gill and Ellery are close in age.

_____4. Gill wants to initiate a deforestation project in the Bañados del Izozog region of Bolivia.

_____5. Ellery is afraid Gill’s project will cause the extinction of the Dynastidae Strategus insect.

_____6. Both Gill and Ellery are humanitarians at heart.

Fill-in Exercise Complete these sentences that Ellery is not able to finish:

1. “This is twelve years ago. I’ve been monitoring the species closely since then. I go back every year. For three months every year, when they’re hatching out of their ______, I ______.”

2. “The potential implications of the extinction of a species are ______

______.”

B. Open for Discussion Discuss these questions in small groups.

1. How does Ellery argue that killing an entire insect species is a “genocide,” the “killing of people”? How does Gill argue that not killing the insect would be the equivalent of a “genocide”? With which viewpoint do you agree? Ellery’s or Gill’s?

2. Are both Ellery the scientist and Gill the businessman humanitarians at heart? Why or why not?

C. Brainstorming: Planting the Seeds of a Debate

Role-play a dialogue between Ellery the scientist and Gill the businessman regarding the deforestation of an area. As you prepare, write your arguments in the boxes provided. While brainstorming, try to find other arguments that are not given by the characters themselves in Scene V.

Ellery (The Scientist) – Against Deforestation Gill (The Businessman) – For Deforestation

Scene Six (pp. 17 – 20)

A. General Understanding: Agree or Disagree? Work with a partner. Circle either “Agree” or “Disagree” based on your understanding of the scene. Be prepared to share the reasons for your answers with the rest of the class.

Agree Disagree 1. Max’s portrayal of his father is accurate.

Agree Disagree 2. Max’s behavior in light of his mother’s declining health is normal for a boy of his age.

Agree Disagree 3. Lily knows when Max is lying or telling the truth.

Agree Disagree 4. Lily is correct to be strict with Max in regard to his responsibilities as a student and a musician.

Agree Disagree 5. Max doesn’t seem to appreciate the fact that his father gave him the biological knowledge he now has.

Agree Disagree 6. Lily is right to stop Max from saying bad things about his father (her husband).

Agree Disagree 7. Max is threatening to run away not only because he has contempt for his father but because he cannot accept his mother’s dramatic decline in health.

Agree Disagree 8. Max would be able to take care of his mother well if she came home.

B. Open for Discussion: Analyzing the Playwright’s Style Discuss this question in small groups.

How does the playwright show coherence and unity in the dialogue? Examine the first ten lines of the dialogue in this scene.

C. Writing Incentive: Research Do research on one of these topics and share your findings in writing.

1. Lily says that all “composers are men” (19). Research the validity of this statement. How many great composers are men and how many are women?

2. Two composers – Chopin and Dvorák – are mentioned. Find out the following:

a. when these composers lived b. where they lived c. which musical compositions they were famous for

3. Read about the intentions that Dvorák had when he composed String Quartet #4 in E-minor. Listen to the quartet and write a short essay that considers the way in which the music reflects or does not reflect Max’s emotional state and/or Lily’s condition.

Scene Seven (p. 21)

A. General Understanding: Summarizing Work with a partner. Write a one-paragraph summary (not more than 5 sentences) of the action in this scene.

B. Open for Discussion Discuss these questions in small groups.

1. Except for Mrs. Steinberg’s inaudible statements, there are no words spoken in this scene.

What inspiration does Dvorák give Max? Why do you believe he is compelled to create a musical composition?

2. What “dialogue” takes place between Mrs. Steinberg and Max according to the gestures described here? Create a potential dialogue between these two characters.

Scene Eight (pp. 22-23)

A. General Understanding: Summarizing Work with a partner. Write a one-paragraph summary (not more than 5 sentences) of the action in this scene.

B. Writing Incentive: Dramatic Portrayals Working in pairs, prepare one of the following monologues.

Joshua has just told Ellery that Lily was dying – that there was nothing that they could do to save her life.

1. You are Joshua. Write a monologue that explains why you have spoken to Mr. Forrestal so abruptly. Is it because you find his absence all day from the hospital blameworthy or because you do not feel comfortable communicating the information that he needs to hear about his wife’s condition?

2. You are Ellery. Write a monologue that explains what you are now thinking. Why do you believe the doctor should not scold you for not having been at the hospital all day? Why do you believe your wife understands why you haven’t been there until now?

Be prepared to perform your work in front of the class.

Scene Nine (pp. 24 – 26)

A. General Understanding: Summarizing Work with a partner. Write a one-paragraph summary (not more than 5 sentences) of the action in this scene.

B. Open for Discussion Discuss these questions in small groups.

1. While Khim is giving his lecture to the class on evolution and species’ extinction, the music of Bach’s Concerto in D Minor for Two Violins and Orchestra is so “loud, powerful, [and] overwhelming” (24) that no one can hear what the teacher is saying. Why do you believe the playwright has given such instructions, to have music overpower a lecture on extinction?

2. Do you believe Khim’s tough manner with Max is appropriate? What does he hope to accomplish by “yank[ing] the iPod earphones out of Max’s ears”?

3. This is the first scene in which there is an exchange between Max and Khim. Khim, like the audience, is an observer of the action in Scene One. Why is the teacher’s intervention an important breakthrough at this point in the play? Why is it good for Max to know that someone is watching him and willing to help him? Is this the kind of responsibility you would expect a teacher to assume? Why or why not?

4. How do you predict Khim’s role may change in the rest of the play, now that he has broken the ice and spoken to one of the characters?

C. Writing Incentive: Research Do research on this topic and share your findings in writing.

Read about the intentions that Bach had when he composed Concerto in D Minor for Two Violins and Orchestra. Listen to Bach’s musical composition. How is it similar to or different from Dvorák’s String Quartet #4 in E-minor? What do you think the playwright’s plan is? Would you expect her to want the “evolution” of the musical score you hear in the play, from Dvorák’s composition to Bach’s, mirror the movement of the play’s action? Why or why not?

Scene Ten (pp. 27 – 28)

A. General Understanding

True or False? Work with a partner. Decide if the statements are True or False. If they are False, decide what you must do to make them True.

_____1. Ellery has lied in order to learn where he can find Gill.

_____2. Ellery would risk anything, even his physical well-being, to save the jungle in Bolivia from being destroyed.

_____3. Gill believes that Ellery, like the Bolivian people, can call the jungle his own.

_____4. Ellery has beautiful memories of the times he and his family have spent in the jungle.

_____5. Gill has been to the jungle several times.

_____6. The jungle in Bolivia will no longer exist after a week.

B. Writing Incentive: Journal Entries Choose one of the following writing topics.

1. You are Max. Write an entry in your journal about the wonderful times you spent in the Bolivian jungle when you were seven and eleven years old. Why did your time there inspire you to write music? How did your music become a song in the darkness? How did you get along with your father and mother then? Why would you have liked to see time stand still during this period?

2. You are Lily. Write an entry in your journal about the times that you spent in the Bolivian jungle. What made you happy there? How did such an environment serve as inspiration for the writing of your science textbooks? How did the time spent there represent the best moments of your life?

3. You are Ellery. Write an entry in your journal about the times you spent in the Bolivian jungle with Lily and Max. How did these times make you feel that you were not only a scientist but also a good

11 husband and father? Why were you proud of your wife and your son during this period? Why would you do anything now to return to the past as you lived it then?

Scene Eleven (pp. 29 – 32)

A. General Understanding: Summarizing Work with a partner. Write a one-paragraph summary (not more than 5 sentences) of the action in this scene.

B. Open for Discussion Discuss these questions in small groups.

1. Lily tells Joshua that she would not accept home care because “[Ellery and Max are] still going to have to live there” (30). Is Lily’s decision one that Max and/or Ellery would make? Why or why not? Some people WANT to die in their own bed. Is this something you would like for yourself? Why or why not?

2. Lily is Joshua’s first cancer patient, and the first one to whom he has to convey the bad news about the futility of further treatment. How does Lily’s sense of humor make things easier for him? Why is having a sense of humor important in life and death issues, for doctors and patients alike?

C. Writing Incentive: Completing the Dialogue Work with a partner. Consider the dialogue and answer the questions that follow.

Lily: Let me go! Joshua: Stop! You’re bleeding. We have to – Lily: Max! I have to get to … (beat) I have to get to … Joshua: Shh… (pp. 31 – 32)

Write the unfinished dialogue between Lily and Joshua at the end of this scene. How would Lily complete her statement? Why does she have to get to Max? What does she want to tell him? How does Joshua respond to her and try to console her?

Scene Twelve (p. 33)

A. General Understanding Work with a partner. Answer the questions.

1. What facts does Khim give for extinction, a “logical conclusion to the chapter on evolution” (33)?

2. Why does he assign a paper on the topic? What does he hope students will learn from having considered this topic?

3. Why does Khim make reference to his students as “these small animals, these small student animals”?

4. What are the “large, terrible true things” that Khim holds “heavy in [his] hand like a stick”?

B. Writing Incentive: Writing a Letter to a Character Work with a partner. Discuss Khim’s situation and then write a letter to him.

Khim evidently experiences a lot of anxiety about the weight of his responsibility as a teacher. He wants to help his students learn the truth about human existence and the world we live in. Write a letter to him, explaining how you believe he should best be able to handle this responsibility.

Scene Thirteen (pp. 34 – 39)

A. General Understanding: Summarizing Work with a partner. Write a one-paragraph summary (not more than 5 sentences) of the action in this scene.

B. Open for Discussion Discuss these questions in small groups.

1. At first, Lily blames Ellery for Max’s disappearance: “You made him walk to the hospital. You would not drive him” (36). Then she says towards the end of the scene: “I think it’s my fault. He was frightened. Before. When he was here” (38).

Who is at fault here? Ellery? Lily? Both of them? Neither of them?

2. If Max has run away, do you believe he has cause to do so? What would he want to run away from? What would you want to run away from if you were in his situation?

Scene Fourteen (pp. 40 – 41)

A. General Understanding: Summarizing Work with a partner. Write a one-paragraph summary (not more than 5 sentences) of the action in this scene.

B. Writing Incentive: Dramatic Portrayals Working in pairs, write a monologue on this topic.

You are Gill. Explain why you want to go to Bolivia. Why, in fact, has it taken you time to get to the main point in your telephone conversation with your secretary? What reasons propel you to go to Bolivia as soon as possible? Have your communications with Ellery finally had an impact on you, or do you just want to go there to see your property?

Be prepared to perform your work in front of the class.

Scene Fifteen (pp. 42 –45)

Agree Disagree 1. Khim does not see any point in chaperoning the Sadie Hawkins dance and finding ways to prevent the students from drinking alcoholic beverages.

Agree Disagree 2. Khim believes that being lenient with Max will help him to snap out of the sad state he is in.

Agree Disagree 3. Khim reminds us that what we learn in English in a writing class can form the logical basis of scientific inquiry in a biology class.

Agree Disagree 4. Khim makes Max realize that the concept of extinction has no relevance in America, only in Cambodia, where he comes from.

B. Open for Discussion Discuss these questions in small groups.

1. Khim asks Max why he thinks Americans are different from the dinosaurs. Do you agree that the story of the extinction of the dinosaurs could be duplicated in the decline, and eventual “extinction,” of America? What are the current danger signs? What can we do to prevent them from developing further?

2. Max warns Khim that he doesn’t want him to “try to be friends with [him]” (44). Can teachers become your friends and still remain “teachers?” Why or why not? Are there any lines that need to be drawn?

3. Max’s temporary thesis is: “I should bomb the school and kill everybody.” One of his support paragraphs will start this way: “We’re all going to die anyway.” Undoubtedly, his sadness about his mother’s impending death has brought him to this understanding of the phenomenon of extinction. Why do you believe Khim sees an opening at this point to start to tell Max about the life he escaped from in Cambodia? What do you know about the history of Cambodia in the 1970s?

Song of Extinction Study Guide prepared by Robert F. Cohen Hostos Book-of-the-Semester Project Fall 2012

Scene Sixteen (pp. 46—47)

A. General Understanding

True or False? Work with a partner. Decide if the statements are True or False. If they are False, decide what you must do to make them True.

_____1. There is no doubt in Khim’s mind that after 30 years he understands the “mystery” (46) of teaching.

_____2. Khim believes the “blank faces” of the high school students is a good thing.

_____3. Khim’s parents and brother and sister died untimely deaths.

B. Open for Discussion: Focused Reading Work in small groups. Read the passage from the scene and discuss the questions that follow.

But I do not teach ancient history. I teach biology.

Teaching is a strange thing, though. You learn in school to teach one subject, you are hired to teach one subject, the class is called by the name of that subject – and you find, at some point, that you are teaching your self. Your whole self to them. My whole self to them, which includes biology, but also funny stories about milking cows with my host family in Wisconsin, who were very nice Baptist people. And bad, expensive addiction to cigarettes, which I hope they do not learn. And Cambodia. Maybe I also teach them Cambodia. Because . . . I don’t know. Self-indulgence. Maybe. No. I do not talk about it all the time. I do not talk about it ever. But in this chapter on extinction, my country and history and family come up bitterly in my throat. And maybe I teach them about Cambodia without ever saying its name. (pp. 46 -47)

1. Do you believe that what Khim says here about himself is a universal phenomenon for all teachers? Don’t teachers always teach something about themselves when they are teaching the subject they were hired to teach? Explain in what ways you agree or disagree.

2. Why is it that Khim believes he cannot help teaching the students “about Cambodia without ever saying its name”?

3. Khim seems to feel a bit guilty because of his “self-indulgence.” Is such “self-indulgence” sometimes necessary in order for teachers to become “real people” for their students? Why or why not?

C. Writing Incentive: Research Working in pairs, do research on the following topic and write a report on your findings. Consider the interpretive questions as well.

What is Sadie Hawkins Day? When does it take place in the United States? How does female and male behavior change on this day? Why do you believe the playwright decided to include a Sadie Hawkins

15 dance in the script? Was it to simply add a bit of Americana to the script or to embed within it some “biological” thinking about a species’s behavioral changes and evolution?

Scene Seventeen (pp. 48-49)

A. General Understanding: Summarizing Work with a partner. Write a one-paragraph summary (not more than 5 sentences) of the action in this scene.

B. Open for Discussion: Working with Quotations Discuss these questions in small groups.

1. In this scene, which takes us back to the second time Lily and Ellery visited Bolivia with Max, when Max was 11 years old, we see how Lily perceives her husband and son. Do her descriptions still hold true in the present, 4 years later? Why or why not? a. Lily (about herself): “Honeymoon in rubber boots and mosquito netting. Most girls wouldn’t have gone for it.” b. Lily (about Max): “He’s writing music in his head again. . . . He’s just like you.” c. Ellery (about himself): “He’s nothing like me. He never has been.” Lily: “You have a miraculous ability to not see what’s right in front of you.” Ellery: “He’s like another country.” d. Lily (about herself): “You’d better hope he’s not another country. I’m the one who always carries the maps and learns the foreign languages.”

2. At the end of the scene, when the “underbrush shakes and falls” (50), Ellery puts himself between the chopping sound and the tent.”

Is Ellery still the protector of his family? Why or why not?

3. In this scene, the sound of the present accompanies the idyllic memory of the past because of the constant reminder of the “whacking sound of the machetes against the underbrush” (48).

The past and the present are “in dialogue” with each other in this scene as well as elsewhere in the play. Why do you believe the playwright believes this is important?

Scene Eighteen (pp. 51 – 54)

Agree Disagree 1. Max is correct when he says, “People don’t become extinct” (51).

Agree Disagree 2. Khim does not have information to support his argument.

Agree Disagree 3. Khim is right to smack Max when he says “Shit happens” (53).

Agree Disagree 4. Khim does not make any major breakthroughs in his discussion with Max.

B. Open for Discussion: Focused Reading Work in small groups. Read the passage from the scene and answer the questions that follow.

KHIM: When I am fifteen, Khmer Rouge rise in Cambodia and take over the whole country. Communism. Red Cambodia. My countrymen take up guns and knives against our own people.

(beat)

You do not know this, maybe, because Mr. Kerr, who teaches history of the world, does not go past the Second World War. Too complicated after that. You do not know this because … why is it important outside country of Cambodia? Why is it important forty years later?

(beat; increasingly to himself, more than to Max)

I remember my sister, ten years old, very sick, lying dead on the cold, red earth, and we left her there, because they made us leave her there, even though I said I would carry her. Even though I tried to carry her. She reached out her hand, but she did not cry.

(beat) Our dead were scattered across those fields. Their besach – spirits – follow us wherever we go, asking if we will feed them, asking if we will burn their bones so they may rest. But there is no rest. (p. 53)

1. Why do you think the playwright decided to make Khim age 15 when he and his family were victims of the Khmer Rouge?

2. Why has Khim taken an interest in Max? Does he identify with Max in any way?

3. Khim asks, “Why is it important outside country of Cambodia? Why is it important forty years later?” What does Khim mean by his question? What is YOUR answer to his question? How do these questions focus on Khim’s criticism of the way history is being taught in his school?

4. Is there ever a way to recover from the kind of experience Khim had in Cambodia? Why or why not? Has his life in America enabled him to find any sort of solace and comfort? If so, in what way?

Scene Nineteen (pp. 55 – 59)

Agree Disagree 1. In her distress, Lily shows a sense of humor in the dialogue here and elsewhere in the play.

Agree Disagree 2. Max’s disappearance causes Lily less pain than the pain her cancer is inflicting on her.

Agree Disagree 3. Lily wants to remain lucid so that she can be there for Max when he returns.

Agree Disagree 4. Lily is not as comfortable with the subject of dying as Ellery is.

Agree Disagree 5. Ellery seeks refuge in the past because he cannot accept his wife’s fate.

B. Discussion Questions Discuss these questions in small groups.

1. Joshua has criticized Ellery for not helping Lily properly. He has also arranged for Lily to go to a hospice the next day without having first discussed these arrangements with either Lily or Ellery. Do you believe Joshua’s behavior as a doctor is acceptable? Why or why not?

2. Read Lily’s statements on page 59. Her “rushing feeling” has her “cold, humming, numbing, rushing, floating” and she is “unmoored” and her bed “is a boat now.” What does she mean by all this? Where is the boat taking her? What do her statements reflect about her current mental state? Does it matter that she is “mixing her metaphors,” as she says?

B. Writing Incentive: Writing a Letter to a Character Work with a partner. Choose one of these topics.

1. Write a letter to Joshua advising him how he needs to cope with his first patient’s impending death.

2. Write a letter to Max telling him why he needs to stop running away at this time in his mother’s life.

Song of Extinction Study Guide prepared by Robert F. Cohen Hostos Book-of-the-Semester Project Fall 2012

Scene Twenty (pp. 60 – 64)

A. General Understanding: Summarizing Work with a partner. Write a one-paragraph summary (not more than 5 sentences) of the action in this scene.

B. Open for Discussion Discuss these questions in small groups.

1. Kim’s statements are poignant:

Khim: Countryman of mine, Haing Ngor, wrote a book about Cambodia. In his book he talked about a time when he was taken away by Khmer Rouge soldiers. Everyone began to cry, he says. Because they know what happens when people disappear. And at a certain point, there can be no more pretending.

(beat)

I think you are at the place of no more pretending now. (p. 62)

What does Khim mean when he says “I think you are at the place of no more pretending now”? Is he able to say these words to Max because “he sees himself in the window, from when he was fifteen years old, very thin and ragged, and still in Cambodia” (51). Why is his statement about “no more pretending” pivotal to Max’s understanding of what he now needs to do?

2. Khim tells Max he cannot stay with him because he is his teacher. Is Khim still Max’s teacher? Or has he taken on another role at this point? Can the action of the play continue without Khim’s intervention? Why or why not?

3. The past plays an important role in the play. Khim, like Ellery, goes back to the past. But for Khim, the past is a nightmare and for Ellery, it is an idyll. Is it possible for them both to take something positive from their respective pasts in order to keep Max from running away?

C. Writing Incentive: Dramatic Portrayals Working in pairs, write a monologue on this topic.

You are Khim. Write a monologue explaining why you are helping Max. How do you identify with Max? Are you in some ways his alterego? Is it possible that your words – “I think you are at the place of no more pretending now” – also apply to you?

Be prepared to perform your work in front of the class.

Song of Extinction Study Guide prepared by Robert F. Cohen Hostos Book-of-the-Semester Project Fall 2012

Scene Twenty-One (pp. 64 –65)/Scene Twenty-Two (p. 66)

A. General Understanding Work with a partner. Answer the questions.

1. Why does Khim see a reflection of his mother and father and brother and sister now?

2. How did Khim get to Wisconsin from Cambodia? What happened to him along the way?

3. What noodle shop does Khim go back to? The one in America or the one in Cambodia? Or both?

B. Open for Discussion Discuss these questions in small groups.

1. Khim says: “Twenty-seven years I live there. And it is empty. I see now. Every room is … empty. I have nothing but spare room” (65).

Are you happy or sad for Khim when he makes this statement? What does he now “see”? Is this a breakthrough for him? Why or why not?

2. When Khim goes back to the noodle shop, he sees that Max has gone but has left his viola there. Why has Max left his viola there and why does Khim take it with him?

C. Writing Incentive: Dramatic Portrayals Working in pairs, write a monologue on this topic.

You are Khim. You have just said, “Twenty-seven years I live there. And it is empty. I see now. Every room is … empty. I have nothing but spare room.”

How would you continue Khim’s monologue? Take him into the future. Will his life change? And if so, how? What will happen to the “spare room”?

Scene Twenty-Three (pp. 67 – 70)

A. General Understanding: Summarizing Work with a partner. Write a one-paragraph summary (not more than 5 sentences) of the action in this scene.

B. Open for Discussion Discuss these questions in small groups.

1. In this scene, you have the merging of the “imaginary” (i.e. Lily’s boat taking her down the river in Bolivia) and the “real” (Lily’s meeting with Gill Morris on his real journey there). What is powerful about the imagery here – with the current taking Lily down the river in this beautiful place, as she enters into dialogue with Gill, who is seeing this beautiful place for the first time? Why is the tension between life and death necessary?

2. Consider this exchange in the dialogue:

Gill (about Max): “Going his own way. Forging his own path. Cutting his own ---“ (68) Lily: No! I can’t go. I’m worried about Max. And Ellery. (69) -- And Myself.

Has Lily become the voice of reason? Is she the nurturing, maternal spirit who is protecting everyone?

3. Consider this description: “Gill looks at the jungle around him. He reaches out and picks a large, bright flower; then holds it to his face. Breathes it in” (70).

What do you expect Gill to do after he “breathes [the flower] in “? Will he go on with the deforestation, or will he cancel it?

C. Writing Incentive: Research Do research on one of these topics and write a report on your findings.

1. Lines from Archibald MacLeish’s poem are mentioned:

“how swift, how secretly The shadow of the night comes in….” (68)

Who was Archibald MacLeish? What kind of influence did he have on American literature? Why are these lines from one of his poems contextually “theme-appropriate?”

2. The playwright mentions President Theodore Roosevelt’s journey in 1912 down the River of Doubt (Rio da Dúvida) in South America. Find out important details about this journey. How was Roosevelt thought of before he embarked upon this journey? What did the journey do for his reputation?

Why do you believe the playwright referred to this president’s adventure in the play? Did she do this because it has relevance regarding: (a) the need to show respect for the natural environment? (b) the sense of adventure and creativity involved in scientific inquiry? (c) the word “doubt” in the name of the river? Or can you think of another reason?

Scene Twenty-Four (pp. 71 –74)

A. General Understanding

Summarizing Work with a partner. Write a one-paragraph summary (not more than 5 sentences) of the action in this scene.

Agree or Disagree? Work with a partner. Circle either “Agree” or “Disagree” based on your understanding of the scene. Be prepared to share the reasons for your answers with the rest of the class.

Agree Disagree 1. Khim is honest and to the point in his conversation with Ellery.

Agree Disagree 2. Ellery has confidence in Khim.

Agree Disagree 3. The only thing Max is “starving” (73) for is food.

Agree Disagree 4. Khim has become a member of the family.

B. Writing Incentive: Dramatic Portrayals Working in pairs, prepare one of the following monologues.

1. You are Khim. Khim “holds [Lily’s] hand between his two hands gently, to warm it, then sits down on the edge of the bed beside her” (74).

What thoughts run through your mind as you tend to Lily? Where does your mind take you? Do you continue to see “reflections” of yourself in the mirror? If so, what do you now see?

2. You are Ellery. You leave Lily on her deathbed in Khim’s care. What thoughts run through your mind as you look for Max? Why have you given Khim, a total stranger, this (temporary) responsibility?

Be prepared to perform your work in front of the class.

Scene Twenty-Five (pp. 75-80)

A. General Understanding: Summarizing Work with a partner. Write a one-paragraph summary (not more than 5 sentences) of the action in this scene.

B. Open for Discussion: Examining the Dialogue Discuss in small groups these questions about the dialogue.

1. Pre-Dialogue: Cues for Consideration Read the action before Max and Ellery start to speak to each other. Then answer the questions that follow. a. Max: “Unbearable cacophony of music. Overwhelmingly loud. Discordant” (75)/bus stop/Greyhound/”sheds clothes”/”music clarifies”/”single note from a viola remains”/sits down on the bench/lifts hand/begins to compose Song of Extinction b. Ellery: car/stopping/parking/overlays the music/car door opening/closing c. Max: stops moving his hand/music stops

How does the movement of the action reflect the current state of Max and Ellery’s relationship? Do you expect the relationship to change course once the music stops and they start talking? Why or why not?

2. “ Ellery: Why aren’t you wearing your clothes? Max: I couldn’t hear with them on.” (p. 77)

What is the connection between nudity and composing (artistic creation)?

3. “(When Max is dressed, Ellery stands up. Looks around. Then exits.) Khim: There are things I know about extinction. I don’t know how to tell you. Maybe I’m not afraid to tell. (After a moment, Max looks over toward where his father disappeared.) Max: Dad?” (p. 78)

Why is Max now speaking to Khim instead of Ellery? In what way has Khim replaced his father? What Is Khim able to tell Max that Ellery is not comfortable telling him?

4. “Lily: I can feel mortality beating its wings against my windows” (p. 78).

How does this image of “mortality beating its wings” come to completion at the end of the scene, when “butterflies with yellow wings begin to flutter and fall onto and around the bed” (80)? What symbolic importance do the butterflies have? Consider Scene Two, in which Khim sees an image of himself as a “butterfly tree.”

5. “Lily: I don’t know where we are. (The two of them look around like the travelers they are.) (Lily paddles a little. Pushing forward.) Khim: Bolivia. Lily: Bolivia? (The boat drifts past the broken stumps of cut-down trees. Empty, deforested land.) (The bank of the river becomes red. Like the ground is bleeding.) (Khim glances over his shoulder. There are white bones in the red earth.) Khim: Maybe Cambodia.” (pp. 78 -79)

How does the bleeding ground relate to Lily’s current state? Why are Bolivia and Cambodia confused for one another?

6. “Khim: I… think you are on your journey now. I shouldn’t… Lily: Shouldn’t what? Khim: Distract you. Lily: Am I supposed to be rowing? Khim: The current will carry you. (beat) This is a terrible thing to be an expert in.” (p. 79)

What does Khim mean when he says, “This is a terrible thing to be an expert in”

7. “Lily: I don’t know where we are! Khim: Place of no pretending. (beat) Tell me what you see.” (p. 79)

What does Khim mean by “Place of no pretending”? Why is his statement here as poignant as it was when he said it to Max before (see p. 62)? What must we do when “no longer pretending” is possible?

8. “Khim: Forty years, I hold no one in my arms. (beat) I do not know how I find myself here, in your boat, Mrs. Forrestal. … Lily: Lucky, I guess.”

Why may Khim in fact be “lucky” to be in Lily’s presence at the time she dies? Is this some kind of breakthrough for him? Why or why not?

C. Writing Incentive: Writing a Letter to a Character Working in pairs, write a letter to a character whose statement you have just discussed in the previous section.

Scene Twenty-Six (pp. 81 – 84)

A. General Understanding: Summarizing Work with a partner. Write a one-paragraph summary (not more than 5 sentences) of the action in this scene.

B. Open for Discussion: Examining the Dialogue Discuss in small groups these questions about the dialogue.

1. Khim: “As I live in Cambodia my whole life when I do not see Cambodia for forty years. How do I say to him, ‘Do not live in Cambodia’” (81)!

What words of advice is Khim giving to Max? Do you agree with Khim? Why or why not?

2. Max/Khim: “This is supposed to be a paper about extinction, but I’m writing about my father instead” (82).

Why are both characters speaking here? How have their stories now “merged”?

3. Khim: “The rest of the paper was written in a foreign language. … Music. He calls it the ‘Song of Extinction.’ Maybe this is not a song about becoming extinct, though. Maybe this is a song about becoming” (84).

Can the story of extinction also be a story of “becoming”? How do you understand Khim’s statement?

C. Writing Incentive: Research Working in pairs, do research in response to Khim’s statement.

Khim: Lamarckian model of biology, in the 1800’s, said that it was new environmental conditions that allowed new species to evolve. President [Theodore] Roosevelt hypothesized that the harsh frontier conditions in the United States of America had created a new race of people. The American people. (p. 81)

Verify Khim’s references to the “Lamarckian model of biology” and President Roosevelt’s remark that the “harsh frontier conditions” created “a new race of people (the American people)”. Are these statements about the environment accurate paraphrases of Lamarck’s and Roosevelt’s hypotheses? Why do you think the playwright had Khim express such thoughts? Write an essay that reflects your findings and your analysis.

Song of Extinction Study Guide prepared by Robert F. Cohen Hostos Book-of-the-Semester Project Fall 2012

Post-reading Exercises

A. Making Connections Discuss this question in small groups. Be prepared to share your group’s analysis with the rest of the class. Select a group representative for that purpose.

The theme of “extinction” develops in many different ways in the play. Discuss ways in which each character contributes to the development of the theme.

KHIM PHAN MAX FORRESTAL ELLERY FORRESTAL LILY FORRESTAL DR. JOSHUA DORSEY GILL MORRIS

B. Discussion and Writing Topics Discuss these questions in small groups. Then choose one of the topics as a point of departure for the writing of a well-developed essay

1. Do you agree that the playwright has ended the play on a positive note, with Khim’s statement that Max’s musical composition is “not a song about becoming extinct,” but “maybe … “a song about becoming” (84)? Why or why not? In what way can “extinction” also be viewed as a kind of “becoming”?

2. Why does the play begin and end with yellow butterflies on the stage? What do you think butterflies represent for the playwright? In what way is their metamorphosis (from caterpillar to butterfly) a reflection of the theme of “extinction” and “becoming”? Why do you believe the butterflies are yellow?

3. Khim says that Max’s paper on extinction was written “in a foreign language … Music” (84). It is interesting that the khim is a musical instrument; it is a hammered dulcimer from Thailand and Cambodia. It seems therefore that for Khim music is not a “foreign language.” Why do you think the playwright has infused Khim’s name with music? Is he actually singing the “song of extinction”?

4. The meanings of names are indeed important. Once we realize their meanings, they can become symbols for us.

Consider the meanings of these names:

Khim: a musical instrument from Thailand and Cambodia Joshua: Hebrew name meaning “The Lord is Salvation” Forrestal: related to a forest

Discuss how the names symbolize the character’s role in the play.

5. In your opinion, who is the hero of Song of Extinction?