The Inheritance Games

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

What are some psychological struggles associated with inherited wealth? Why might children who inherit great wealth feel isolated? What might be the stages of Sudden Wealth Syndrome? What advice might help someone who has suddenly acquired significant wealth?

Teaching Suggestion: To whet students’ interest, you might share some or all of these details about the novel that connect to the Short Answer question: The Inheritance Games is about a teenage girl who receives a vast amount of wealth and must live with the family who expected to inherit the wealth themselves. Throughout the novel, Avery, the protagonist, struggles to cope with her acquired wealth, her new social setting, and not knowing whom she can trust. She also seeks to answer the question of how she managed to inherit the fortune from the family’s patriarch, whom she believes she has never met. On the other hand, members of the patriarch’s family also wrestle with the psychological pressures of inherited wealth and the disappointment of failing to inherit.

• This article describes the psychological impact of inherited wealth.
• This article describes Sudden Wealth Syndrome and the stages people go through after inheriting a large sum of money.

Short Activity

From where you regularly sit, try to throw a crumpled piece of paper into a trash can placed at the front of the room. If you make the target, you become instantly wealthy.

In your notes or a reading journal, answer the following questions:

• Did you make the shot?
• How would your results make you feel if the situation were real?
• How do you feel about your position (physical location) in the classroom considering the results of your chance to become wealthy?

Teaching Suggestion: The United States is often described as a place where people can achieve rags-to-riches success. Consider completing the activity first, then reading the article below on the likelihood of social mobility in the United States. The students closest to the trash can represent people who are privileged in society—people who grow up in wealthy families to become wealthy themselves. Once students have had a chance to respond in their journals, select one random student from the back row to move to a chair next to the trash can, and allow them to make the shot with ease. This represents the suddenness and unexpectedness of the windfall experienced by the novel’s protagonist.

• This article describes the likelihood of rags-to-riches wealth.
• This activity, presented in a 2-minute video, illustrates why social mobility is difficult to achieve (the Short Activity above was adapted from this idea).

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the novel.

Imagine you have suddenly inherited a vast fortune from an unknown person. What is the first thing you would do? Whom would you trust with the knowledge of your fortune? What are the possible repercussions of instantly acquiring large amounts of money? How do you think friends and family members would behave toward you? In what ways might your life change?

Teaching Suggestion: Avery inherits a large fortune from a man she does not know. One of the first things she does is set out to discover who Tobias Hawthorne, the man who gave her the money, is. Avery is thrust into a volatile environment in which those who were close to her now try to take advantage of her newfound fortune and fame. She is also in danger from the Hawthornes, who did not get the money they expected to inherit. Consider discussing the role of family, those who are close emotionally and in proximity to those who inherit, and the psychological consequences of acquiring a large fortune.

Differentiation Suggestion: For students who might benefit from an additional challenge or who would prefer a research-based assignment, consider encouraging students to research the emotional impact of lottery winners and the effect that winning the lottery has on their social dynamics, including with family members and friends.