Teaching Scythe by Neal Shusterman: A Novel Study Guide
Scythe asks students one of the biggest questions a novel can ask: if nobody had to die, who should decide when someone does? It's the first book in Neal Shusterman's Arc of a Scythe series, and it hooks even reluctant readers from the first chapter.
What it's about (no big spoilers)
In the future, humanity has conquered hunger, disease and even death. An artificial intelligence called the Thunderhead runs the world, fairly and well. To keep the population under control, only Scythes are allowed to end lives, which they call gleaning. Two teenagers, Citra Terranova and Rowan Damisch, are chosen as apprentices by Scythe Faraday. Neither of them wants the job, which is exactly why he picks them. Then they find out that only one of them will become a Scythe.
Big themes to teach
Power and ethics: who should hold power over life and death, and why?
Mortality: does life mean more because it ends?
Technology and AI: is a world run by a perfect AI a utopia or a dystopia? A very current question.
Corruption: what happens when people with power stop following their own rules.
Identity: Citra and Rowan go through the same training and come out very different people.
Discussion questions that go past "what happened"
Is a world without death a utopia or a dystopia? Argue one side, then argue the other.
Faraday chooses apprentices who don't want the job. Is not wanting power the best reason to give it to someone?
The Thunderhead runs everything except the Scythedom. Should an AI be trusted more than people? Connect your answer to AI today.
Every Scythe follows the same commandments, but they interpret them very differently. Who follows them best?
Citra and Rowan respond to their training in very different ways. Which path would you take?
The novel includes journal entries written by Scythes. Write the entry you would keep if you were one.
Activity ideas
Scythe's journal: students write journal entries in a Scythe's voice, then compare whose reasoning holds up.
Debate: should the Scythedom exist at all?
Poetry and poster art: respond to the big ideas creatively.
Comic strip or newspaper: report the news from a world without death.
Teaching with care
Scythe deals with death on almost every page, and it includes violent scenes, including mass killings. Read it before you choose it, send a note home, and save it for strong readers in Grade 8 and up.
The complete Scythe novel study
My Scythe novel study has more than 200 pages: chapter-by-chapter comprehension questions with answers, journal analysis prompts, creative writing assignments including poetry, art projects, multiple choice boards, fill-in-the-blank exercises, discussion prompts, poster activities, comic strips and newspaper creation.
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