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1 Study Guide for SONG of EXTINCTION 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 1 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 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. 3 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. 4 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 5 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? 6 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.
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