Homebound

Both the game Homebound and the Aye Chaya function as technological archives. Consider what each form of memory is able to preserve and what it leaves out.

What do Becks’s and Yesiko’s journeys from isolation to community say about survival in different historical contexts?

Compare the ways Becks, Chante, and Chaya use masks. What does the novel suggest about empathy versus self-preservation?

Evaluate how Becks refigures her family’s experiences within the game Homebound. How do her versions of Sheila, Bubbe, and Benjamin differ from their real counterparts?

How does Elan use the conventions of gaming to shape the reader’s role in this sometimes “puzzle-box” narrative?

What does Homebound define as the essential difference between surviving and truly living? To what extent does Root’s sacrifice express his philosophy that stories are the basis of identity and connection? Analyze the novel’s take on self-preservation.

Benjamin Meir’s character is constructed entirely through memories, a letter, and the code of his unfinished game. What are the advantages or limitations of characterizing a key figure in this fragmented way?

How does the physical state of the Babylon evolve, and what does this evolution suggest about the changing nature of its crew?