40 pages 1 hour read

Margaret Atwood

Time Capsule Found on the Dead Planet

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2009

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Reading Comprehension Questions

1. What was Atwood’s purpose for writing this text?

A) To create a sense of urgency in confronting climate change

B) To critique religion after falling out with her church

C) To analyze the way the past influences the present

D) To follow up on her successful 1985 novel The Handmaid’s Tale

2. What human weakness is emphasized in the poem?

A) The desire to achieve simplicity through wholesale destruction

B) The tendency to put faith in irrational ideas and ignore real problems

C) The ability to imagine gods that will save humanity at the last minute

D) The capacity to treat nonhuman animals and plants with cruelty

3. Which of the following themes does Atwood not address?

A) Greed

B) Environmental destruction

C) Religious weaponization

D) Misogyny

4. What issue is Atwood referring to when she writes that money “created greed and hunger, which were its two faces”?

A) Eating disorders

B) Wealth inequality

C) Supply chain failures

D) Racial prejudice

5. Throughout the text, what does Atwood compare money to?

A) Deserts

B) Men

C) Gods

D) Animals