Cloud Cuckoo Land

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.

“Visualizing Parallels and Connections”

In this activity, students will identify unifying elements in at least two characters’ plot lines and create a visual representation that explores what these findings might suggest about human history and struggles.  

Doerr’s Cloud Cuckoo Land is comprised of six interwoven stories that echo, parallel, and connect to each other despite their different historical contexts. In this activity, you will identify unifying elements in at least two characters’ plot lines, then you will create a visual representation that shows how the stories unite despite their differences. Complete the following steps as you work through the activity:

• Choose two plot lines from characters in different time periods. In what ways do their stories overlap? What makes them similar?
• Consider elements such as motif, symbol, parallelism, and theme. What connections can you make between these characters and their plot lines?
• Create a visual representation to show how these stories are connected. What does this suggest about human history and struggles?

Share your visual representation in an informal presentation to the class. Your work may be displayed for public viewing.

Teaching Suggestion: Due to the abstract elements of the assignment, students may benefit from examples of unifying elements or a whole-class brainstorm activity in which they visually map out how all the plots and characters relate. Consider reminding students that “visual representation” does not necessarily require a drawing or artwork, but could include infographics, plot diagrams, or even slideshows.   

Differentiation Suggestion: For students with organizational or executive functioning differences, graphic organizers or progress check points may be beneficial. English language learners and students who struggle with time management may appreciate having access to preselected and/or pre-highlighted passages for analysis. To open this assignment up to more learning styles and cultures, consider allowing options for group work, performance art form such as film or animation, or oral response forms. To blend in elements of written analysis, consider having students write “artist’s statements” that explain their choices and articulate the relationship between the characters and plots.

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. Throughout the novel, characters endure and survive apocalyptic events.

• What might the iteration of apocalyptic events reveal about human struggles and history? (topic sentence)
• Explain why the different events each character endures might seem apocalyptic and discuss the similarities between them.
• In your concluding sentences, explore the connection between these apocalyptic events and the theme of Saving Books and Information from Erasure.

2. Aethon’s story is that of a fool learning he is a fool and thus becoming wise. Choose one character as the focus of your response.

• What makes this character a fool, and how do they eventually become wise? (topic sentence)
• Describe at least two ways this character is foolish or naïve, identify what brings about their realization that they have been a fool, and explain what wisdom they gain from this realization.
• In your concluding sentences, explain how this character and Aethon’s story relate to one of the novel’s broader themes: Saving Books and Information from Erasure, False Utopia and Idealization, or Risk, Reward, and Regret.

3. Preserving books, knowledge, and the past is a concern of each of the characters in the novel.

• Based on the characters, what is the benefit of accessing and preserving knowledge from the past? (topic sentence)
• Explain how and why at least two of the characters benefit from accessing and preserving past knowledge.
• In your concluding sentences, consider what broader message Doerr might be suggesting about False Utopia and Idealization and/or Saving Books and Information from Erasure.

Full Essay Assignments

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

1. Doerr relies on motifs to unify disparate plot lines and support broader themes. Trace the development of a motif such as nostos, birds, libraries, or the natural world throughout the plot lines. How do various iterations appear to the different characters, and what ideas do they associate with this motif? How does repeated engagement with this motif shape the characters and their values? What universal idea or thematic message might these iterations support?  

2. Central to Aethon’s story and the novel itself is the concept of utopia. Based on the characters and their struggles, what is the appeal of a utopia or utopian society? What are the perils? What drives people to seek greener pastures, and why might this search be both a necessary process for developing wisdom and a fool’s errand?  

3. Doerr has written that he intended the novel as a paean, or song of praise, to books. Consider the role of the written word in the novel. What purpose does it serve for the characters? What does the written word allow for in each of their lives? Why do they consider it worth preserving? What is the intrinsic value of books according to the story, and why are they worthy of praise?

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

Multiple Choice

1. Which is an example of dramatic irony in the storyline that involves the bombs in the library?

A) Zeno and Seymour are unaware their plans share the space, but the audience knows.

B) Zeno and Seymour have crossed paths countless times there.

C) Zeno and Seymour recognize each other but do not know each other.

D) Zeno and Seymour realize that fate plays a role in their futures.

2. What does the title Cloud Cuckoo Land allude to?

A) It refers to a place in Thomas Moore’s Utopia.

B) It is a delusion, since “cuckoo” is pejorative for people with psychiatric conditions.

C) It appears as an omen in the final book of The Odyssey.

D) It refers to Aristophanes’s The Birds.

3. What point does Licinius, Anna’s Greek teacher, make about the complexity of the Greek word mýthos?

A) Every story is a conversation about the truth, even if it is fantastical.

B) The Greek gods cannot be considered false just because they survive in myths.

C) Every written work is a fight against erasure and dissolution.

D) Stories like The Odyssey become myths only if they escape death and erasure.

4. What makes Trustyfriend such a good friend to Seymour?

A) The owl does not stink or yell like the kids at school.

B) The owl is quiet, listens without judging, and shows him the ear defenders.

C) The owl is simply present, while others in his life are not.

D) The owl is lonely, much like Seymour, so they fill each other’s needs.

5. How does Anna’s motivation for visiting the Priory change with time?

A) At first, she goes because Himerius blackmails her, but then because she loves him.

B) At first, she is frightened, but scaling the wall gives her the courage to overcome fear.

C) At first, she does it to earn money for Maria, then for the love of adventure.

D) At first, she wants to cure Maria at the priory, then she realizes the remedy is poisonous.

6. Which of the following might the Sultan’s new cannon symbolize in the story?

A) It represents how quickly military technology outpaces other technologies.

B) It represents the Sultan’s military superiority and genius.

C) It represents a foil to Constantinople’s unbreachable gates.

D) It represents the plodding, overly grand promise of war.

7. How do the oxen’s struggles during the journey to Constantinople foreshadow the plight of the infantry once they arrive at the city?

A) The oxen’s ability to overcome the odds reflects the infantry’s zeal.

B) Commanders thanklessly work the oxen to death and then ask the same of the soldiers.

C) Like the oxen, the men are beasts and do as they are told, no matter what.

D) Half the infantry dies before arriving, like the overworked oxen.

8. What does Konstance infer when Sybil will not reveal the location of the others or open the doors?

A) Konstance has been infected and is in quarantine.

B) They are not really in space.

C) Konstance is the only survivor.

D) Sybil does not really know everything.

9. Why is Zeno disappointed in his reunion with Rex?

A) Rex is uninterested in Zeno and abandons him at a party.

B) Rex is not the person Zeno remembers.

C) Zeno is too worried about Mrs. Boydsten’s health to enjoy himself. 

D) Zeno finds no closure for either his guilt or his hopes.

10. What might translating ancient texts represent symbolically?

A) Translation is an act of faith and goodwill.

B) Translation is a difficult labor that amounts to nothing, like the Sultan’s war.

C) Translation, like Aethon’s journey, is a kind of mythic quest for knowledge.

D) Translation is a reference to Sisyphus and the boulder.

11. What irony about his radicalization does Seymour’s relationship with his mother reveal?

A) He has no relationship with his mother, which makes Bishop’s promises so attractive.

B) He wants to save her, but he commits to a plan that will devastate her.

C) He recognizes her hard work and suffering, but he believes she is a problem to eliminate.

D) He moved to Lakeport because of her, so in a way she contributed to his radicalization.

12. Why is Zeno’s relationship with the library kids so integral to his character arc?

A) The children are the reason Konstance is alive.

B) The children help Zeno realize he is no wiser than Aethon.

C) The children are a perfect foil to his character because he is old.

D) The children and Zeno are in a mutual relationship, which alleviates his loneliness.

13. What might one infer is the source of Aethon’s suffering based on the goddess’s offer to cure him of desire?

A) Aethon is too trusting, and everyone he listens to leads him astray.

B) Curing him of desire will make him truly inhuman, and he is too foolish to see the trap.

C) Desire is one of the seven deadly sins, and it has ruined Aethon’s life.

D) Aethon means “burning” or “desire,” indicating he is the source of his own suffering.

14. What is ironic about Seymour’s job with Ilium Company?

A) He is tasked with erasure of inconvenient truths, the idea he fought against.

B) He is constantly searching climate protest images for Janet.

C) He must erase his childhood home in Lakepoint, Idaho.

D) He uses the job to smuggle the schematics for the Argos into Sybil.

15. What has Konstance used to create a paradise for herself in Greenland?

A) Seeds, because “paradise” comes from the Greek word for garden

B) Knowledge from the Argos, because knowledge is power

C) The memory of her father, because love is all people need

D) Aethon’s wisdom from Cloud Cuckoo Land, because it is timeless

Long Answer

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

1. What argument might Doerr be making about human death and extinction by including characters from vastly different timelines?

2. What do the children notice about the ending, and how does their version change Aethon’s story?