Problematic Situation: "I CAN'T REMEMBER"

STUDENT INSTRUCTIONS:

Your memories are as important to your daily life as breathing. Without them the person that is you dies. Without your memories you can be taken advantage of, brainwashed, manipulated, used for other people's purposes. Without memories your brain is empty and ready to be filled by something, anything. The great threat to your world is not Communism. It is not a Russian nuclear warhead. It is not biological warfare initiated by Iraq. The threat is science. Brain scientists have conquered the world and they are attacking individuals. They have studied the brain for so long that if they can get access to your brain, they can erase your memories. They can control you. The trick is to hold onto your memories. It has recently been learned that if you can hold onto the memories that define you the most as an individual, the scientists cannot brainwash you. With this in mind you are to generate a list of at least 12 memories that are important to you. REMEMBER; if you can hold onto the memories that define you most as an individual (unique from all other people), you will be safe. Otherwise, you will become nothing more than another pawn in the brain scientists' hands.

TEACHER INSTRUCTIONS:

1. This activity is to be used just prior to reading chapter 15-16 of Cormier's The Bumblebee Flies Anyway. Separate the Student Instructions from the Teacher Instructions. Make sure to read chapters 15-16 in the same sitting. These are the chapters where Barney learns that the Handyman and the other "scientists" have stolen his memories. They have used his brain like Kleenex - only keeping it as long as it is useful.

2. Hand out the Student Instructions to the students. When they have completed making their memory lists split them into pairs and have them switch their lists with their partner.

3. The partner will rank their classmate's memories according to their personal perceptions of that student, #1 being the most important. There can be no ties (for example, two things can't be ranked #1) The actual maker of the memory list is to have absolutely no input in how the memories should be ranked. This is basically what the scientists at the Complex have done to Barney. They have played with his memories as if he were a toy.

4. When the rankings are completed, the ranked memory sheets should be handed back to the original student. The original student examines the other student's rankings and agrees or disagrees. The original students now have an opportunity to rank their own memories. After ranking their own memory lists, have students compose a paragraph as to why their classmate's perceptions of their important memories were accurate or not.

5. Bring the class together and discuss what has happened. Tell them that anything that their partner didn't rank in the top three is gone. They no longer have those memories. How did they feel having someone else dictate what memories were important to them? Is this something we should do in our society? Is their potential danger with a world structured this way?

6. Read chapters 15-16.

7. Discussion Topics:

On pages 173-74, Barney breaks into a locked room. There is a white monitor. The whiteness makes Barney think of his repeating nightmare of the car crash. Are we conditioned to certain stimuli? When A happens, does B always follow? What are some real life examples? For example, if you swear at your parents what happens? If you listen to a favorite song, what happens? If you never get your way, what happens? Help students to see that our daily lives and emotions are the result of past complexities.
If such stimuli cause certain reactions in us, are we really in control of our lives? If not us, who? This may be a good segue into propaganda or brainwashing.
On page 175 we are told that Barney's "nightmare had been manufactured in this room, in the simulated car and the movie on the screen." What are the implications of a person being able to manufacture nightmares in others?
On page 178, Barney asks if he is a mouse in a maze. The Handyman responds, "You are much more than that, Barney. You are a precious human being. If we did not regard you as such, we would not have subjected you to these tests." Do you believe the Handyman? What are the Handyman's motivations for using Barney as the object of a test? What is Barney getting out of it?
On page 179 the Handyman tells Barney of how he and the other doctors screened his memory. Supposedly they are taking advantage of him for the good of humanity. Is that kind of manipulation a good thing?

8. To assess the worth of this exercise with your students do a guided imagery with them. Using an Enya CD, do a guided imagery exercise where they explore a precious personal memory. Follow the instructions in the guided imagery directions. After finishing the guided imagery tell them that like Barney, their memory is erased. It is gone. It can never be recovered. Then have them do a free-write answering the following question: "Are memories valuable? Why or why not? Convince me."