The Sparrow

The Sparrow

• Genre: Fiction; science fiction
• Originally Published: 1996
• Reading Level/Interest: College/adult
• Structure/Length: 32 chapters; approximately 408 pages; approximately 15 hours, 19 minutes on audio
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: In 2059, Father Emilio Sandoz heals from a mission to the planet Rakhat from which he is the only survivor. He tells the harrowing story of his mission in flashback, recounting the deaths of his friends, his own years of torture, and his questioning of his faith.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Violence; rape; farming and slaughtering of sentient beings for food

Mary Doria Russell, Author

• Bio: Born in 1950 in Illinois; earned PhD in biological anthropology from the University of Michigan; worked as a technical writer before turning to fiction; donated half of her advance for The Sparrow to fund a struggling Catholic school in Ohio; writes mainly historical fiction, although The Sparrow and its sequel, Children of God, are speculative fiction; converted from Catholicism to Judaism in 1993; often explores matters of religious faith in her writing
• Other Works: Children of God (1998); A Thread of Grace (2005); Doc (2011); The Women of Copper County (2019)
• Awards: James Tiptree, Jr. (now Otherwise) Award (1997); Arthur C. Clarke Award (1998); British Science Fiction Association Best Novel Award (1998) 

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Guide:

• God’s Will Versus Human Volition
• The Price for Following God
• Ethnocentric Dilemmas

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Teaching Guide, students will:

• Gain an understanding of the text’s literary, social, and historical contexts by considering its broader connections to religion and allusions to world history.
• Study and discuss paired texts and other brief resources to make connections via the text’s themes of God’s Will Versus Human Volition, The Price for Following God, and Ethnocentric Dilemmas.
• Utilize close reading practices in order to analyze specific scenes and events within the text.
• Analyze and evaluate text structure and character and thematic development to draw conclusions in structured essay responses regarding Emilio’s faith, character relationships, the role of language, and other topics.