Exhalation

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.

ACTIVITY 1: “Debate: Fate Versus Free Will”

In this activity, students will engage in a structured debate about the presence of fate versus free will.

Several of Ted Chiang’s stories in Exhalation grapple with the presence of free will. Does free will exist, or are we governed by fate and determinism? Your challenge is to engage in a debate with your peers about whether free will exists for human beings, using evidence from Chiang’s stories paired with outside resources about the philosophy and science behind fate and free will.  

• After breaking up into teams of two and assigning sides, select the stories from Exhalation that best connect to and support the side that you are arguing. Go through these stories and highlight specific quotes and passages.
• Review the outside sources provided and/or find your own. How can you connect the philosophy and science around fate/free will to the Chiang stories you have analyzed?

o “The Choice Is Yours: The Fate of Free Will”

o “Does Existentialism Believe in Free Will?”

o “Determinism vs. Free Will: Crash Course Philosophy #24”

• With your team, plan your arguments. What are your main points? What evidence supports them? What are your counterarguments? (Remember that you must connect the philosophy/science behind fate or free will to distinct examples from Exhalation.)
• Decide who will take on what role for your team:

o Each team will provide an opening statement and present their three points.

o The opposing team will have an opportunity to cross-examine the three main points and ask questions.

o After various rounds are completed, each group will provide a closing statement in which they summarize their main points and further address any counterarguments presented by the opposing team.

After the debate, you will reflect individually and engage in a class discussion on how the debate impacted your understanding of the theme of Free Will. Did it change or reinforce your perspective on the presence of fate versus free will in the book? How about in your own life?

Teaching Suggestion: You may consider assigning time limits to the various rounds in the debate. You may also choose to moderate the debate to ensure respectful dialogue and adherence to the guidelines and process.

Differentiation Suggestion: For students with learning differences and/or for students who struggle with organization, consider providing notecards to help keep track of evidence, points, and counterarguments. For advanced students or individuals who would benefit from a writing component, you might amend the post-debate discussion into a written reflection in which students discuss the overall significance of the topic in the modern world as well as their developed understanding of it.

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. Many of the stories in Exhalation explore the theme of Repentance, Atonement, and Forgiveness.

• How are these three elements presented throughout the collection? (topic sentence)
• Analyze the different forms that these elements take throughout the book by choosing three characters and discussing their relationship to this theme.
• In your concluding sentences, explain Chiang’s purpose for including such topics and what lessons the reader might take away.

2. In Exhalation, new technology is developed and used in both positive and negative ways.

• How do different characters in Exhalation use new technology in ways that both benefit and hinder others and/or the world? (topic sentence)
• Analyze examples from three different stories in Exhalation. Use a distinct example from each story to support your thoughts and provide relevant context as well as careful explanations.
• In your concluding sentences, explain how the examples provided help develop the theme of Technology: Abuse and Responsibility.

Full Essay Assignments

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

1. Climate Grief and Humanity’s Ecological Footprint is a pervasive theme in many of Ted Chiang’s stories in Exhalation. How is this theme explored, and how does Chiang use this theme to convey meaning about the actual climate crisis facing humanity? Choose two stories from Exhalation and analyze how this theme is developed within them. As you compose your essay, incorporate at least two specific examples from each story to strengthen your points.

2. The story “The Lifecycle of Software Objects” grapples with the role of parenting in an artificial intelligence (AI) context. What role does parental guidance play in the development of the digients, and what message about experience is the author trying to convey? In a world of AI, what human truths are essential to maintain? As you compose your essay, consider how this story develops the theme of Parenting and Love and use at least three examples to strengthen your points.

Multiple Choice and Long Answer questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, unit exam, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Which of the following best describes the structure of “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate”?

A) Flashback

B) Frame narrative

C) Epistolary

D) Nonlinear

2. What is the narrator’s “slender hope” at the end of “Exhalation”?

A) They hope that there are other universes that can benefit from their own.

B) They hope that explorers from other universes will find a way to restore their life.

C) They hope that the Reversalists are able to reset the air pressure to sustain life.

D) They hope that they will find a way to leave this universe and inhabit another.

3. What best describes Ana’s feelings as she first considers taking the job at Blue Gamma in “The Lifecycle of Software Objects”?

A) Eager

B) Bitter

C) Optimistic

D) Hesitant

4. “The Lifecycle of Software Objects” is divided into 10 sections. What is the impact of this structural choice?

A) It helps organize the story into distinct themes.

B) It shows the passage of time throughout the story.

C) It helps distinguish between characters’ perspectives.

D) It separates flashbacks from the present tense plot.

5. In “The Lifecycle of Software Objects,” it says, “So the digients lose three days of experience. Including the first time they rolled down a hill.” What best describes the impact of this passage?

A) It shows the tension between the digients as projects but also as human-like beings.

B) It emphasizes the sense of urgency in the Blue Gamma trainers’ work with the digients.

C) It demonstrates the difficulties in helping the digients acquire human-like experiences.

D) It shows that the trainers do not want the digients to experience too much enjoyment.

6. What best describes the significance of the inclusion of discussion forum posts in “The Lifecycle of Software Objects”?

A) They show how limited the face-to-face interaction is between characters.

B) They showcase the different types of people who adopt digients.

C) They demonstrate the community that forms among digient owners. 

D) They remind the reader that digient ownership is relatively simple.

7. Which of the following lines best shows the narrator’s skepticism of Remem in “The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling”?

A) “As a journalist, I have long appreciated the usefulness of lifelogging for determining the facts of the matter.”

B) “Moseby explained to Jijingi how each sound a person spoke could be indicated with a different mark on the paper.”

C) “My first thought was that it must be a fake, that Nicole had edited the video to put her words into my mouth.”

D) “I wished I could share Ericka Meyers’s optimism, but I knew that new technology doesn’t always bring out the best in people.”

8. Which of the following best describes how Nicole is feeling when she says, “Except that was just something you made up. It actually happened to me”?

A) Frustrated

B) Curious

C) Bitter

D) Skeptical

9. What does the narrator’s confusion about Nicole seeing a therapist say about his character?

A) He does not believe in the efficacy of therapy.

B) He has deep misunderstandings about their relationship.

C) He is curious about starting therapy himself.

D) He wonders about the benefits of therapy and Remem.

10. In “The Great Silence,” the quote “The hush of the night sky is the silence of a graveyard” is an example of which literary device?

A) Simile

B) Hyperbole

C) Metaphor

D) Personification

11. In “The Great Silence,” it is explained that humans and parrots used to perceive each other as not very intelligent. What does this show about the tendencies of living beings?

A) They are fearful of different species and therefore distance themselves from others.

B) They are desperate for interspecies connection and will go to great lengths to achieve it.

C) They often do not understand things or beings that are different from themselves.  

D) They are blinded by their own ambitions and neglect connection with others.

12. How do Dorothea’s interactions with the McCullough family contribute to her character development?

A) They show that Dorothea is incapable of truly understanding another’s perspective and relationship with God.

B) They demonstrate the ultimate message of the story, which is that science will ultimately trump religious belief.

C) They show how connection with others is more important than grappling with existential questions.

D) They cause her to doubt her faith at first, but later they strengthen her belief in miracles and free will, which ultimately solidifies her faith.

13. The structure of “Omphalos,” an address to a person or thing not actually present, is an example of which literary device?

A) Apostrophe

B) Imagery

C) Alliteration

D) Metaphor

14. What is the impact of the unanswered question at the end of “Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom”?

A) It reinforces the fact that it actually does not matter who purchased the video files.

B) It leads the reader to wonder whether Nat purchased the video files to help Dana.

C) It shows the great lengths that Dana went to in order to find closure and peace.

D) It leaves the reader uncertain and confused and supports a theme of purposelessness.

15. In “Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom,” Dana notices that Nat seems interested in Lyle’s reaction to Nat selling her prism. What does this observation show about Dana?

A) She speculates that Nat may have feelings for Lyle.

B) She feels upset and annoyed that Nat sold her prism.

C) She suspects that Nat may have an ulterior motive.

D) She assumes that Nat is trying to get Lyle’s attention.

Long Answer

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

1. What is the narrative shift at the end of “Exhalation,” and what is the impact of this choice?

2. What is the significance of the digients having access to Real Space at the end of “The Lifecycle of Software Objects,” and what possibility does this access present?

3. Chiang often uses a frame narrative, or a story within a story, to structure his short stories. What is the impact of this structural choice?