The following are suggestions only and not meant to be prescriptive. Additionally, teachers will want to select from among the possibilities and not use all the ideas.
Before Reading the Novel
Teachers may want to introduce students to the genres of science-fiction and utopian literature prior to beginning the novel. The concept of time travel is handled beautifully in the motion picture Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986). Teachers may introduce the movie by asking students to note the confusion encountered by the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise as they travel back to Earth. For example, teachers may want to point out that the crew of the Enterprise, living in a world with fewer prejudices and no cold-war animosities, is completely unprepared for the suspicion with which the Russian Chekov is treated when he is found aboard a navy nuclear vessel. This discussion might segue into
further exploration of how many science fiction writers envision the future as a utopian society that has eradicated many of the problems of our present society.
To examine fully the ramifications of science fiction and utopian literature, students might also read Kurt Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron." This short story examines the negative ramifications of a culture that forces equality on its citizens. Discussions of how equality might be achieved without the horrific results described by Vonnegut will prepare the students to engage the ideas advanced by Bellamy.
Pre-Reading Questions
The following questions can be answered in discussion or journal format. Students can respond to the following questions in a variety of ways, as there are no "right" or "wrong" responses. If students respond individually, they should share responses so that they may be aware of the variety possible.
1. What will our society be like in 100 years or at the next millennium? What would the ideal society be?
2. If someone 100 years from now were describing the faults of our society, what would the faults include?
3. If you were to awaken tomorrow to find yourself in a different century, what/whom would you miss most?
4. If you had the opportunity to visit our city in the future, what
questions would you most want to ask?
5. What novels have you read or movies have you seen that used the dream structure? What was your response to finding that the action had all been a dream? Less able readers might be reminded of the film version of The Wizard of Oz, in which Dorothy awakens at the end of the movie, suggesting that all her experiences in the Emerald City have been a dream. Another possibility for discussion is Alice's Adventures in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass. Creative writers might try their hand at writing a short story that includes the dream device.
While Reading the Novel
The following are activities from which to choose while students are reading the novel.
1. Keep a response journal to record your responses, observations, and questions as you read and reflect on the novel.
2. Maintain a graphic organizer contrasting Bellamy's fictional depictions of Boston in the year 1887 with his idea of Boston in the year 2000. Students can draw a chart or cluster diagram that illustrates the characteristics of the differences in Boston over time. As students read more, they can add to the diagram. Generally, the novel will prove a rich source for educating students about the history of American life in the late 1800s. Additionally, to help students have a historically and culturally situated reading experience, teachers may want to include brief mini-lectures that fill in the gaps in student knowledge about late 19th-century American life, including discussions of tenement life, industrial sweat shops, workers' strikes, and African-American and women's rights activism.
3. Chart the accurate predictions made by Bellamy such as the credit system, pneumatic transmitters, etc. Include possible parallels such as the use of phone lines compared to modems. Students may want to make double columns with a list of Bellamy's predictions on the left and a check mark on the right for those predictions that are proving true.
4. Keep a log of the plot and subplots, charting the progress of Julian West's awareness of developments in society as they parallel his growing love for Edith leetee.
5. Maintain a vocabulary log to increase understanding of unfamiliar words. Many students profit from recording unfamiliar words and
defining them from context clues or from dictionary definitions. Suggested words are:
aphelion p. 316. Develop a timeline illustrating where West goes and what he learns about society on each day of his guided tours through Boston.
perihelion p. 31
objurations p. 33
desultory p. 33
draught p. 38
demagoguery p. 57
cornucopia p. 81
pneumatic p. 84
atavism p. 139
Questions for Discussion
While student discussions are usually more productive when students generate their own questions for whole-class discussion, the following questions are suggestions for prompting discussion until students are engaged in the conversation about the novel. To promote engaged discussions, teachers should assemble students in small groups or pairs to discuss the following questions prior to whole-class discussions.
Chapters One and Two
1. What is the cause of Julian West's discomfort and frustration at the outset of the novel?
2. What are some of the sources for the unrest among the working class of 1887?
3. Why would class-based activism cause distress to someone of West's station?
4. Why would a man like West resort to something as unusual as Animal Magnetism? What are some practices of today that some might regard as unusual?
5. What does his willingness to succumb to Animal Magnetism suggest about his character at this point in the novel?
Chapters Three through Seven
1. Where and when does West wake up?
2. What happened to his home? How did he survive?
3. How is his long sleep explained?
4. What is the source of mystery when he first awakens?
5. In chapter four, Dr. leetee claims that the citizens of Boston in 1887 used surplus wealth for private luxury, whereas Bostonians in 2000 use surplus wealth for the "adornment of the city, which all enjoy in equal degree" (p. 46). What major change in thought had to occur before society could manage such a shift in the use and distribution of wealth?
6. What is the government of Boston in the year 2000 like? How has this modern society eliminated political parties and politicians?
7. How has corruption and dishonesty been eliminated? What essential changes in thought and belief were necessary to these developments?
8. Explain the process by which people choose their vocations. What does Dr. leetee say, at this point in the novel, about the role of women? How do you think society has advanced, or not, in its treatment of women?
Chapters Eight through Twelve
1. What new developments in Boston frighten and confuse West as he travels alone?
2. Explain Dr. leetee's discussion of equal distribution of wealth? What social system subscribes to the belief in equal distribution of wealth?
3. Why would a person work, if not for wages? What are the incentives afforded people in the year 2000?
4. What is the educational system like in the year 2000?
5. What role is afforded women in this belief system?
6. What forms of entertainment are available to citizens of the year 2000?
7. What technology today is related to those imagined by Bellamy?
8. How do you suppose Bellamy might have regarded technology?
Chapters Thirteen through Eighteen
1. How has the question of debtor nations been resolved in Bellamy's society?
2. What are the standards of art in the society which Bellamy envisioned? How are those standards different from those taught in most schools?
3. According to Dr. leetee, why is a classless society ideal?
4. Why would it be a good idea for a writer to pay the initial cost of a first publication?
5. How is the mystery initiated in Chapter Three advanced in Chapter Seventeen?
6. How are people elected to public office? What are the requirements for the Presidency?
7. What led to the dissolution of professional sports?
Chapters Nineteen and Twenty
1. Why might the structure of Bellamy's society lead to a reduction in criminal behavior?
2. Why are false statements rare in this society?
3. What has replaced attorneys? Why?
4. Why was Edith unimpressed with the storehouse of gold West had hidden in his underground safe?
Chapters Twenty-one through Twenty-three
1. What are the three main grounds on which the novel's educational system rests?
2. Why have insanity and suicide virtually disappeared from society?
3. How is the credit system of the 19th-century explained by Dr. leetee?
4. Why does Dr. leetee believe that "the principle of share-and-share alike" is "the only humane and rational basis for a society"?
5. How is the mystery regarding West's past advanced still further in Chapter Twenty-three?
Chapters Twenty-four through Twenty-seven
1. What led to the disappearance of anarchists and other divisive parties?
2. What is the advantage of the national party?
3. What changes in the status of women have occurred?
4. What is the role of motherhood to the health of society?
5. What is the subject of the sermon to which West listens?
6. How does West realize the extent of his feelings for Edith?
7. How is the mystery at last resolved?
Chapter Twenty-eight
1. When West "awakens" to find himself in the 19th century again, what horrifies him about his society?
2. Why is he treated so harshly by family and friends when he attempts to caution them about the folly of their civilization?
3. Why are those who sound the alarm about the pitfalls of a current civilization treated harshly by their contemporaries?
4. About what does West feel remorse when he awakens to find himself back in the 21st century?
5. Why is this novel considered a vision of the "perfect society" by many critics?
After Reading the Novel
These response activities and questions are designed to be used in either small or large group settings. Teachers should select carefully from the following to match student ability and interest to the activity. Moreover, the activities are not meant to be done only at the completion of the novel. It may be useful to provide opportunities for completion of the following ideas at strategic points during the reading to keep students engaged.
1. Create the front page of a fictional Bostonian newspaper in the year 2000. Include as one of the featured articles the news that a 19th century citizen has awakened to find himself a resident of the late 20th century. Compare your creation to an actual newspaper of today.
2. Create a weekly diary for Edith leetee that parallels West's stay in her home. What are her feelings? How does she view the events that we see only through West's eyes?
3. Research race relations in the late 1800s. What does Bellamy's novel say about equality? How might this apply to race relations?
4. It takes Bellamy until Chapter Twenty-five to address the status of women. Using your response log, investigate your own reading process. Did you question how the vision of the year 2000 affected women before the novel addressed that issue? What, in Bellamy's vision of the ideal society, do you find appealing as far as women are concerned? What do you find problematic? What about his vision do you find visionary? What strikes you as essentially 19th century in orientation and thought?
5. Listen to a recording of the song "Sunday Morning Coming Down"
written by Kris Kristofferson. (There are many versions of this song
available, including a 1998 recording by Shawn Mullins on SMG records.) Compare the mood of this song to the melancholy described by West at the beginning of Chapter Twenty-seven. How are the song and the novel similar? What might account for the melancholy of a Sunday? How does this mood impact West's actions? Select music that reflects the changing moods in the novel.
6. If you lived in a society such as the one described in Looking Backward, what do you think you would do? Would you like it? Would you want to conform or would you be more likely to rebel? Explain your answers.
7. Create a talk show format for West to appear publicly to Boston society. Write the dialogue and act out the show. What questions would the host and audience ask of West? How would he respond?
8. Research the Nationalist Party movement of Bellamy's day. What were the utopian experiments like? Who participated?
9. Compare the themes and issues of Bellamy's novel with a contemporary movie set in the future (see the list of suggested movies at the end of this guide). What are the most dramatic differences?
10. Research the ideas of utopia and dystopia and explain how those concepts influence the novel Looking Backward.
11. Read the final chapter of the novel again. How are your perceptions of the dream sequence altered by the realization that the perceived reality is actually a dream and the perceived dream is the reality? How are your prior experiences with the dream structure altered by this twist?
12. Choose one of the social issues relevant to our own time period (i.e., credit card debt, poverty, class divisions, and social unrest) addressed by Bellamy. Write an editorial or a leeter to the editor proposing your own solution.
13. Make a timeline for the novel. How many days does West spend in the year 2000 before dreaming himself back in 1887? What does he do on each of those days? What aspects of society does he learn about on each of those days. What do you suppose was Bellamy's plan for introducing each of those issues when he did? How do they feed into each other?
14. View pictures of the 1960s sanitation strikers in Memphis wearing signs saying, "I Am a Man." Read Sojourner Truth's "Ain't I a Woman?" speech. Re-read pp. 76-77. Compare the concept of humanity offered by all three of these situations. What does it mean to be a man/woman? What defines humanity?
