Goodbye Days

Use these links to supplement and complement students’ reading of the work and to increase their overall enjoyment of literature. Challenge them to discern parallel themes, engage through visual and aural stimuli, and delve deeper into the thematic possibilities presented by the title.

Recommended Texts for Pairing

A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury (1952)

• a short story by science fiction master Ray Bradbury, showing a literal representation of the “butterfly effect” (in this case, killing a single butterfly alters future events)
• The story offers an opportunity to discuss a central argument of Goodbye Days–that it’s risky and fruitless to Seek Causality in a Chaotic World.
• “A Sound of Thunder” on SuperSummary

Mid-Term Break by Seamus Heaney (1998)

• This poem from famed Irish poet Seamus Heaney depicts a family’s reactions to a young son’s death.
• As in Goodbye Days, the poem shows different reactions to grief, from the father’s tears to the mother’s “angry tearless sighs.” The poem offers an opportunity to discuss the themes of Grief and Guilt.
• “Mid-Term Break” on SuperSummary

 Twitter Thread by Jeff Zentner (2017)

• In this series of tweets, Zentner discusses his motivation for writing Goodbye Days.