Elsewhere

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Lizmandias”

In this activity, students will demonstrate their understanding of the relationship of Elsewhere to “Ozymandias” by creating an illustrated version of Shelley’s poem featuring scenes from Liz’s life.

The title of Part 3 of Elsewhere is an allusion to a famous poem called “Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley. This poem shares the perspective of a traveler who reflects on the temporary nature of human life and the ways in which time eventually erases even the most powerful people. In this activity, you will show that you understand this poem’s relationship to Elsewhere by creating an illustrated version of the poem using scenes from Liz’s life.

Read the Poem and Explore Its Relationship to Elsewhere

• Read “Ozymandias,” and then reflect on an illustrated version of the poem found here. Your illustration will be in a similar comic format, but it will feature scenes from Liz’s life instead of literal illustrations of the lines of Shelley’s poem.
• Make some notes about specific moments in Liz’s life—both on Earth and in Elsewhere—that teach Liz lessons like those conveyed in the poem.

Create Your Illustrated Version of Shelley’s Poem

• Think about how you would like to break up the lines of Shelley’s poem for the separate panels of your illustration, and then choose representative scenes from Liz’s experiences that show how her life relates to these ideas.
• Create a comic-book-style series of illustrations that pair the lines of the poem with the scenes you have chosen.

Share and Reflect

• Share your work as directed by your teacher.
• After you have had a chance to see the work of several of your peers, write a paragraph that describes a scene from Liz’s life that one of your peers chose to use in their comic but that you did not choose to use. In your paragraph, comment on why this scene choice was effective.

Teaching Suggestion: You can adjust the length of time this activity requires when you establish your expectations about how many sections students should break the poem into and how many panels their comics should have. The first part of the activity, “Read the Poem and Explore Its Relationship to Elsewhere,” lends itself well to whole-class or small-group discussion; you might allow students to complete this stage together and then move on to working independently. Students may find it helpful to use online resources like Storyboard That or Canva as they create their comics. One advantage of using an online comic creator is that it will be easy for students to post their work on a class website for their peers to see. If this is impractical, you might ask students to draw or print their comics so that you can post their work in the classroom.

Differentiation Suggestion: Students with visual impairments may require a modified version of this assignment: You might, for instance, ask them to break the poem into four or five sections and then write a few sentences about how each section relates to Liz’s experiences. Students with aphantasia may have difficulty completing this activity without using online resources and visual references; even if your other students are drawing by hand, you might want to arrange for these students to have internet access during this activity. 

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. A key moment in Liz’s journey is when she is in the ocean and, seeing Owen’s boat above her and confusing it with her pocket watch, finds the strength to swim up to the surface.

• What does the image of Liz’s father’s watch symbolically suggest about fate? (topic sentence)
• Give at least three examples of language, plot detail, or characterization that support your interpretation. Make sure to cite your evidence with page numbers.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, show how the message about fate conveyed by the watch is connected to the text’s larger thematic concern with The Role of Choice and Agency in Human Life.

2. Elsewhere offers different analogies that describe human life: a circle and a line, a tree with branches and roots, and Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Choose one of these analogies to use as the basis for your response.

• What claim does this analogy make about human existence? (topic sentence)
• Give at least three specific examples that support your interpretation. Make sure to cite your evidence with page numbers.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, show how this analogy supports the book’s thematic concerns with Accepting Loss and Embracing Change and/or The Power of Love in All Its Forms.

3. Many of the characters in Elsewhere have to make decisions about forgiveness.

• What message about forgiveness is created through this motif? (topic sentence)
• Give at least three examples of language, plot detail, or characterization that support your interpretation. Make sure to cite your evidence with page numbers.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, show how the forgiveness motif supports one or more of the book’s larger thematic concerns: The Role of Choice and Agency in Human Life, Accepting Loss and Embracing Change, and The Power of Love in All Its Forms.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. Why do you think Zevin chooses to have her characters age backward in Elsewhere? How does this age regression gradually erase identity? Which characters seem to struggle with this arrangement, and why? Does aging backward ultimately make the transition to a new life easier or harder? What message does this choice convey about how we might think about identity, life experiences, and death? Write an essay analyzing how the choice to have characters age backward in Elsewhere relates to the theme of Accepting Loss and Embracing Change. Support your analysis with examples drawn from throughout the text, making sure to cite any quoted and paraphrased material.

2. What purpose does the book’s Ancient Egypt motif serve? How do the titles of Parts 1-3 and the text’s allusion to “Ozymandias” relate to or support this motif? Where else in the story are there references to Ancient Egypt? Write an essay analyzing the function of the Ancient Egypt motif in Elsewhere. Show how this motif supports one or both of the text’s thematic concerns with The Role of Choice and Agency in Human Life and Accepting Loss and Embracing Change. Support your analysis with examples drawn from throughout the text, making sure to cite any quoted and paraphrased material.

3. What does Betty’s garden reveal about her attitude toward life? How is the garden described, how do characters react to it, and what does Betty have to say about it? What images, language, and details of plot or characterization support the reader’s understanding of what this garden symbolically represents? Write an essay analyzing the symbolism of Betty’s garden. Show how this symbolism supports one or more of the text’s thematic concerns: The Role of Choice and Agency in Human Life, Accepting Loss and Embracing Change, and The Power of Love in All Its Forms. Support your analysis with examples drawn from throughout the text, making sure to cite all quoted and paraphrased material.

Multiple Choice and Long Answer Questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, exams, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. What characteristic of Elsewhere is conveyed in the titles of the Prologue and Epilogue?

A) In Elsewhere, people can reconnect with lost loved ones.

B) In Elsewhere, people are expected to have a job.

C) In Elsewhere, people age backward.

D) In Elsewhere, people are forbidden to contact Earth.

2. What do Paco, Lucy, and Jen all have in common?

A) They are elderly.

B) They are Liz’s cousins.

C) They are Liz’s classmates.

D) They are dogs.

3. Which is the most accurate description of Liz?

A) Moody, introspective, creative

B) Stubborn, smart, generous

C) Guarded, curious, independent

D) Impulsive, lively, talkative

4. How does Liz’s arrival in Elsewhere contribute to Betty’s character growth?

A) It shows Betty she can be good at loving and taking care of someone else.

B) It allows Betty to forgive herself for cheating on her husband.

C) It helps Betty adjust to the idea of aging backward and being reborn.

D) It eases Betty’s grief over being separated from her daughter, Olivia.

5. How does the manner of Owen’s death suggest he might be a good match for Liz?

A) Liz loves animals, and Owen died trying to save an animal.

B) Liz needs to learn to respect Elsewhere’s rules, and Owen died enforcing the law.

C) Liz longs for romance, and Owen died in a romantic and heroic way.

D) Liz admires self-sacrifice, and Owen sacrificed his life for someone else’s.

6. What do Owen’s experiences suggest is the reason for Elsewhere’s ban on contacting Earth?

A) Still-living people are not allowed to know what comes after death.

B) Contact with the dead interferes with the progression of life for those on Earth.

C) Obsessing about life on Earth stalls the backward aging process in Elsewhere.

D) Contact between the two worlds can create a partial merging of the two places.

7. What is an important lesson that Liz learns from Thandi?

A) Fighters never give up on their dreams.

B) Taking care of others helps you grow as a person.

C) Love doesn’t last forever.

D) Happiness is a choice.

8. Which is the most accurate description of Aldous?

A) Cheerful and disorganized

B) Artistic and moody

C) Philosophical and distant

D) Amusing and dramatic

9. Which relationship best supports the text’s thematic concern with Accepting Loss and Embracing Change?

A) Betty and Curtis

B) Owen and Liz

C) Emily and Owen

D) Betty and Liz

10. Which motif is reinforced through what happens between Liz and Amadou and what happens between Owen and Jen?

A) Love

B) Forgiveness

C) Loyalty

D) Tolerance

11. Which most clearly functions as a symbol of the importance of cherishing life despite its temporary nature?

A) Liz’s watch

B) Owen’s tattoo

C) The ocean

D) The well

12. Which thematic concern relates most clearly to Liz’s stitches?

A) The power of love to create purpose

B) The desire to control the uncontrollable

C) The ability to let go after a loss and accept change

D) The importance of perspective and forgiveness

13. What does the novel suggest is the only thing that is eternal?

A) God

B) Love

C) Identity

D) Consciousness

14. What is one lesson about life that Liz’s experiences teach her?

A) Romantic love is an illusion that people use to distract themselves from hard truths.

B) Human consciousness is tied to identity in unhealthy and self-defeating ways.

C) Being angry about things we cannot change is a waste of our limited time.

D) Because we will ultimately lose them, it is wise not to become too attached to people.

15. Which plot event most clearly demonstrates that loss and change can lead to transformative opportunity?

A) Thandi’s work as a television announcer

B) Owen’s work with the Elsewhere Bureau of Supernatural Crime and Contact

C) Liz’s work with the Division of Domestic Animals

D) Curtis’s work as a fisherman 

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. How does Liz’s relationship with Zooey demonstrate how Liz adjusts to her situation in Elsewhere?

2. What does Owen’s tattoo suggest about permanence and control?