The Lovely Bones

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What have suburbs represented in the United States, culturally and socioeconomically? How did 1970s media (namely TV) represent suburban ideals many in the U.S.’s dominant culture still seem to embrace? What cultural factors might have prompted a shift in perception of the suburbs as the country moved into the 1980s?

Teaching Suggestion: It may be beneficial to check students’ awareness of the concept (and raison d’être) of suburbs as “safe,” which also meant “white” to many of their inhabitants, and of the mass exodus from urban areas (also known as “white flight”) that began in the 1950s and 1960s. See if they are cognizant of the historically lower crime rates in the suburbs, and the ideals that suburbs traditionally represented of the nuclear family with a stay-at-home mom, 2.5 children and a dog. In the early 1970s, popular media brought audiences The Brady Bunch, which featured a blended family (but not as a result of divorce) and children who led wholesome, safe lives. By the later 1970s, however, crime was on the rise, even in suburbs; in 1980, Ronald Reagan was elected president and reinstated Nixon’s “War on Drugs” and strong anti-crime stance. Students might use these and other resources to point to other examples of cultural shifts occurring over time, then make predictions about the way in which the setting of the novel (1973 suburban Pennsylvania) will be characterized.

• This abstract from Ethnic and Racial Studies journal provides an accessible explanation of the movement to, and composition of, suburbs through most of the 1970s.
• This 1972 New York Times article, 1975 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article, and 1998 Washington Post article all detail the rise in suburban crime rates locally and nationally in the 1970s and 1980s that seemed to come as a shock, given the suburbs’ historically low rates.
• This 1989 Washington Post editorial describes the rise in drug use in 1980s suburbs, a phenomenon not seen at that level in the 1970s.

2. What is meant by the label “serial killer”? What is impression management? What are the common character traits of serial killers?

Teaching Suggestion: Students may need brief online investigation time with scholarly sources if “impression management” is a new phrase for them. It may be helpful to let readers know that investigative techniques such as DNA profiling had not yet been developed in the mid-1970s, although some techniques in forensic science have been employed for centuries, including fingerprint evidence. Harvey, the serial killer, has many “impression management” schemes to make him more believable to the police force. Students might use the tactic of writing some of the characteristics on a chart to revisit as they familiarize themselves with the character of Harvey.

• This 2-minute video with information from a professor at the College of William and Mary provides a definition of a serial killer and how such a person can go unnoticed.
• This 7-minute video offers some ideas on potential common character traits of serial killers.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the novel.

Describe a time when you realized a personal goal would go unfulfilled. Explain what the goal was and why it would not be completed. How did you feel about your unfulfilled goal? What changes did you make because of your unfulfilled goal? How did you cope with the loss of something you had hoped to accomplish? 

Teaching Suggestion: To generate empathy for Susie in this pre-reading stage, it may be beneficial to let students know how the main character’s unfulfilled dreams and wishes cause frustration for her in the novel, as the siblings and friends can continue to live their lives while she must watch from afar. Students may have difficulty thinking of a personal goal they were unable to accomplish; consider brainstorming a list of frustrating disappointments together, such as a scholarship they didn’t receive or a job they didn’t get.

Differentiation Suggestion: For students who would benefit from an additional challenge, consider asking them to research coping strategies for various disappointments. Students might research what makes people successful after great disappointments and how to turn a disappointment into a tool or life lesson rather than a regret or hindrance. Consider using this article from Harvard Business Review on disappointment as a starting point.