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This resource is a set of reflection prompts and comparative questions designed for students studying Sive by John B. Keane in the context of cultural themes. It is structured to encourage students to draw connections between Sive, Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan, and the 2023 Barbie movie. The questions focus on key aspects of cultural context such as social class, gender roles, authority figures, religion, morality, community, isolation, economic pressures, and the endings of the stories.

The resource is structured as follows:

Social Class and Status: Prompts explore how characters in each text are treated based on their social standing, and how poverty or wealth influences their lives and decisions. It encourages students to compare the class divides in Sive, Small Things Like These, and Barbie.

Gender Roles: Questions guide students to reflect on the gender expectations and limitations placed on characters. They are asked to compare how gender roles are portrayed in the three texts and consider the impact of these roles on characters’ experiences.

Authority Figures: This section focuses on how authority figures influence the characters. Prompts explore power dynamics and their effects, comparing how authority is handled in Sive, Small Things Like These, and Barbie.

Religion and Morality: Prompts ask students to reflect on the role of religion and moral judgement in the characters’ lives and decisions. They compare how societal expectations shape moral choices in all three texts.

Community and Isolation: Questions focus on the sense of community and isolation experienced by characters, and how the community supports or fails them. Students are encouraged to think about how community is portrayed in the texts and reflect on their own experiences of support networks.

Economic Pressures: This section asks how economic struggles shape characters’ decisions and lives. Students are prompted to compare how poverty and financial constraints are portrayed in Sive, Small Things Like These, and Barbie.

Ending and Resolution: Students reflect on how the endings of each text relate to the cultural context and whether the characters achieve resolution or remain constrained by societal pressures. They are asked to think about how the conclusions highlight key cultural themes.

Personal Reflection: Each section ends with personal reflection questions, encouraging students to connect the themes of the texts to their own lives and experiences.

This resource is designed to help students understand the cultural context of the texts, engage with key themes, and develop critical thinking skills by comparing and contrasting different literary works.