Unit 1 – “The Last Dog”

1. Unit 1 – “The Last Dog”

2. Analyze Visuals 24. Look at the painting on pg. 53. What do the details in the painting tell you about the setting? Life is evident in the flowing stream, growing trees, and shining sun. . . .continued

3. Entry Card 25. Connect: Have you ever visited a place that is very different from your home? Was the experience more exciting or more fearsome? 26. Analyze: In what way is nature outside the dome different from what Brock has been taught? 27. Evaluate: Why do you think dome scientists and leaders have not updated their information about the outside environment? . . .continued

4. He has been taught that the world outside cannot support life. However, he has found living trees (line 115) and a flowing brook (line 126) outside. The dome leaders do not want to lose members of their population to the outside world. The dome dwellers are imprisoned by their fear of the outside. They are too comfortable inside the dome.

5. Analyze Visuals Look at the painting on pg. 56. Look at the boy’s expression. What can you infer about his feelings toward the puppy? . . .continued

6. The boy looks excited and happy. He is fascinated with the puppy and enjoys playing with it. The boy’s facial expression mimics the puppy’s. This suggests that he identifies with and feels close to the dog.

7. Setting Class # 3 Entry Card: What is the setting? . . .continued

8. The setting of this story appears to be a post apocalyptic future, post environmental wasteland of Earth. The characters live in an environmentally controlled dome, believing that Earth remains uninhabitable after an earlier disaster destroyed much of the population (lines 171–175). As with many works of science fiction, there is much truth to this story: polluted air, land, and water are a serious problem, and it increases as technology, industry, and the world’s population continue to grow.

9. Analyze Visuals (pg. 60) Look at the painting on pg. 60. Compare this image to the one on pg. 49. How do the differences between the two illustrations show the differences in Brock? . . .continued

10. In the first illustration, the boy is wearing a protective suit. In this image, the boy is standing unprotected in the environment. He is less confined. He is free, like Brock at the end of the story.

11. Setting (lines 54-70) 13. In lines 54-70, what do these details tell you about the place where the story is set? The story seems to be taking place on Earth, in the United States. (line 61) The characters Brock meets in the “ancient fictions” are from real books written by Mark Twain and Virginia Hamilton.

12. Setting (lines 203-220) . . .continued