Teaching Resources

The following is a list of resources you may use as entry points into the novel to better understand the literary, historical, and cultural contexts.

Christenson, Allen J. Popol Vuh: The Sacred Book of the Maya, Volume 1. U of Oklahoma P, 2007.

The Popol Vuh is the foundational sacred text of the K’iche’ people, one of the Maya peoples. “Popol Vuh” ultimately means “Book of the Community” and preserves the oral traditions of the religious narratives of the Maya. It is believed to have been recorded around 1550. This text was then translated by Priest Francisco Ximénez in 1701 into Spanish, leading to our ability to preserve and access these stories today. Allen J. Christenson’s work returns to the K’iche’-Maya text to offer an English translation. Christenson also offers extensive notes on the original language, the history of the Popol Vuh manuscript, and the Maya people. This source can help those who wish to learn more about the Maya religion and myths that are the backbone of Moreno-Garcia’s novel. 

This book can be accessed through I-Share with the COD library.

Krauze, Enrique. Mexico: Biography of Power: a History of Modern Mexico, 1810-1996. Translated by Hank Heifetz. Harper Collins, 1997.

Krauze’s monograph chronicles Mexico history, marking the expansive shifts in power, control, and society accessible for the reader. The chapters centering on the Porfiriato, the Revolutionary era, and the Reconciliation years will be most useful to those who are looking for a deeper understanding of the historical context of Moreno-Garcia's novel. 

This book can be found within the COD library.

Marcos, Sylvia. “Twenty-Five Years of Mexican Feminisms.” Women’s Studies International Forum, vol. 22, no. 4, 1999, pp. 431-33.

This scholarly article explores the development of feminism in Mexico, including its origins and its growth in the 1970s. Marcos traces the ways in which the Mexican Women’s Movement has struggled in overcoming oppressive Catholic standards established by Spaniard colonizers as well as failing to reconcile Indigenous ancestry. This article can provide a resource for understanding the changing state of women rights and identity within Mexico across the years, informing Casiopea’s personal and social anxieties. 

This source can be accessed online. 

Martinez, Aja Y. Counterstory: The Rhetoric and Writing of Critical Race Theory. National Council of Teachers of English, 2020.

For professors looking to find other avenues of integrating the text within their classrooms, I recommend looking at Aja Y Martinez’s work. Martinez maps how to center “experiential knowledge so as to better elucidate lived reality from (intersectional) rather than about (essentialist) people of color” (14). In other words, Martinez’s work offers a method for teaching students how to reframe BIPOC and non-normative voices as well as language use in writing. This can inspire professors to restructure assignments to assist students with anti-racist writing. Additionally, this approach can help students find validation in their own voices and narratives. Moreno-Garcia’s novel can serve as a case study alongside Martinez’s theoretical framework.

This book can be accessed through I-Share with the COD library.

Stern, Alexandra Mina. “Eugenics and Racial Classification in Modern Mexican America.” Race and Classification: The Case of Mexican America, edited by Ilona Katzew and Susan Deans-Smith. Stanford UP, 2009.

In the post-revolutionary period, Mexico had a number of population issues on their hands. First, the population had significantly declined due to deaths during the war, deaths during the flu pandemic, and citizens seeking new opportunities in different areas of the world (including the U.S.). There is no definitive number of the population loss, but it is estimated to be in the millions. Second, there was a growing question of understanding what a “true” Mexican was. (See Krauze for more on this concern, including a fascinating story about the fighting over what to do with Hernán Cortés' bones.) To answer these concerns, many policymakers (like other nations during this time) turned to eugenics. Approaches to eugenics in Latin America differed from those in Europe. Rather than center eugenics on a Mendelian conception of genetics, Latin America (most notably Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina) was inspired by Lamarckian considerations of heredity. Alexandra Mina Stern is a scholar who has contributed many influential works examining developments of racial identity and eugenics within Latin America. This chapter in particular traces the politics of racial classification in the U.S. and in Mexico, to understand the different approaches and meanings of science and society within each context. She specifically examines the ways eugenic ideas informed racial classification systems within these two countries. Understanding the shifts in classifying racial identity can help with understanding the racial tension between Casiopea and Martín (one reason why Martín treats Casiopea as he does), as well as Casiopea's lived experience during this time.

This chapter is available through the COD library as an ebook.

Dear Educator, 

Thank you for considering integrating the College of DuPage’s 2024 Great Read Series selection into your classroom! Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia may be classified as a fantasy adult novel, but it reads well for a young adult audience. It features a cross-country hero’s journey for the novel’s protagonist, Casiopea, as she learns more about her place within a society that is still recovering from revolutionary upheaval. 

The following lessons are offered as suggestions for you to build on when considering integrating this novel into your classroom for your young audience. As a person who has served as an instructor at both the secondary and college levels, I sought to construct lessons that could be easily adapted to your teaching context and classroom needs. We ask if you do any work on genre to not label this novel magical realism. If you would like to learn more about why this is a sensitive issue for authors like Moreno-Garcia, please read her essay "Saying Goodbye to Magical Realism" published with the New York Times.

Please feel free to also refer to the other COD Great Read Series Resources on this website for further reading. I hope you and your students can join us at our various events that build toward Moreno-Garcia’s visit this October 28, 2024. 

Best, 

Alejandra Ortega

Lesson 1: The Maya and The Popol Vuh

• Objectives: Students will learn about the Maya people and the text that provides us with a recording of their myths.
• Synopsis: This lesson will be done in two parts. 

First introduce students to the Maya people. Use this time to teach students to identify the major cities and civilizations of Maya culture, as well as engage with major aspects of culture, religion, architecture, science, and art. I recommend being mindful of acknowledging the present-day Mayans living within Latin America, including the Yucatán (Casiopea’s home). 

Then, introduce students to concepts of myth and mythmaking. This can be used as a launch pad to teaching students about Maya myth and the Popol Vuh. Have students read excerpts of the Popol Vuh to provide context to figures mentioned within the novel (including the death gods and the hero twins). 

Activities

• Have students discuss the impact of the Maya on modern society, giving way to reflection of modern architecture, art, culture, and science.
• Divide students into different groups and assign a different area of Latin America where the Maya resided. Have students create  posters that showcase their research about the city, its history, its culture, and the ways the Maya helped influence and shape these places.
• Divide the students into different groups and assign them each an aspect of Maya culture (religion, agriculture, architecture, art). Each group can construct a presentation on the ways Maya shaped these areas.
• “I Used to Think…Now I think…” activity to challenge previous knowledge or assumptions about myths or the Maya.
• Have students read and connect tales from the Popol Vuh within Moreno-Garcia’s novel. Have them consider the differences between the two depictions of these figures.
• Have the students create and/or identify contemporary narratives that take on mythic qualities.

Grading/Assessment

Students could write a reflection on what they learned about the Maya. (They could use a form of the “I used to think…now I think…” structure from the activities as a culminating discussion approach.) Additionally, students could create a final project in this unit by identifying adaptations of Maya myth within the novel. This could be done as either an individual written assignment or a creative project. 

Resources

• Christenson, Allen J. Popol Vuh: The Sacred Book of the Maya, Volume 1. U of Oklahoma P, 2007.
• “Vital Signs: The Visual Cultures of Maya Writing” by Stephen D. Houston for the National Gallery of Art (Video recordings of each lecture).
• “Ancient Mayan Web Resources” by History Link 101

Lesson 2: The Hero's Journey

•  Objectives: Students will be able to understand the structure of the hero’s journey. Additionally, students will demonstrate applications of contemporary approaches to the monomyth.
• Synopsis: Introduce students to the hero’s journey and heroic archetypes. Allow students to identify applications of this in other media of which they are familiar. 

As you read the novel, have students map out the narrative alongside the hero’s journey structure. This can either be done as you progress in the novel, or after you’ve completed the novel. As they work, encourage them to find ways the novel is subverting the structure to construct a new consideration of the hero’s journey. 

Activities

• Have students write brief journal entries to prompts:
  • What does it mean to be a hero?
  • Where can you see forms of the hero’s journey in popular media?
• Have students create a storyboard of the hero’s journey, mapping out Casiopea’s and Martín’s journeys separately.
• Have students create a “hero profile” for Casiopea.
• Have students identify areas where the novel strays from the hero’s journey structure (this can be done in a written prompt or a compare/contrast activity).

Grading/Assessment

Students can create a final product either individually, or in small groups on their mapping of the hero’s journey. (Perhaps this could also be done where different groups are assigned different parts of the hero’s journey, or each group can construct their own diagram of the journey in its entirety.) Ultimately, students will conclude this lesson by creating a chart, presentation, or writing assignment showing not only their understanding of the hero’s journey structure, but also the ways in which Moreno-Garcia shifts the structure for Casiopea and Martín. />Resources

• “What Makes a Hero?” by Matthew Winkler for TED-Ed
• “12 Steps to the Hero’s Journey” by Kevin from StoryFlint (Features a visual map)
• “What Is a Protagonist–A Breakdown of Different Types and Functions of the Main Character” by StudioBinder
• “6 Common Hero Archetypes in Literature” by MasterClass
• “The Psychology of Heroism” by Diana Aguilera for Stanford Magazine

Lesson 3: Point of View

• Objectives: Students will be able to explain and identify examples of approaches to point of view. Students will consider how point of view affects the different parts of story while considering alternative perspectives.
• Synopsis: Gods of Jade and Shadow is written in third-person, giving us the ability to have insight into multiple characters’ perspectives (including, but not limited to, Casiopea, Martín, and Vacub-Kamé). 

Begin by teaching the students about different points of view and have students identify the different forms in other media they enjoy. After students have an understanding of point of view, show them the five parts of story with the Freytag Pyramid, and have them identify areas where we receive a character’s point of view. 

Finally, encourage students to have a writing practice where they consider how the story would change if the point of view shifted to another character’s perspective. 

Activities

• As the students read the novel, have them in small groups work on identifying the parts of Freytag’s pyramid as showcased in the novel.
• Point of view scavenger hunt: students can go to the library or use a collection of books to correctly identify examples of different point of views in literature.
• Have the students identify how a POV helps shape a section of the Freytag pyramid. This could be done alongside the previous activity, or as a discussion.
• Students could make an anchor chart for point of view within the novel. An anchor chart helps draw out keywords, phrases, and examples to indicate point of view.
• Have students make a creative piece imagining what the story or a scene would be like if written from a different character’s POV. 

Grading/Assessment

Students can be assessed on their accuracy in identifying the parts of Freytag’s Pyramid and the types of POV through either a culminating quiz or through demonstrating accurate application in their group work and individual projects. Students can conclude this unit by working on a creative project that rewrites a scene, demonstrating skills in POV and parts of story application. 

Resources

• “The 5 Elements of Dramatic Structure: Understanding Freytag’s Pyramid” by Sean Glatch for Writers.com (including a diagram)
• “Analyzing Author’s Purpose and Point of View” by The Albert Team

This catalog contains a list of films that complement Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s writing and interest in Mexican horror cinema. Professor Brian Brems, co-department chair of Film Studies, offers the following 8 recommendations.

La Llorona (1933, Peon)

The earliest of Mexico’s sound films is a moody riff on one of the country’s most enduring ghost stories. Set in an upper-class mansion, the black and white photography pairs with the use of synchronized sound—which introduced dialogue, music, and sound effects, of course, but also silence as a tool for establishing tension—to give cinematic voice to Mexico’s “wailing woman” for the first time.

• The film is available to rent on Amazon. 

Misterios de Ultratumba (The Black Pit of Dr. M.) (1959, Mendez)

Horror’s fascination with mad scientists reaches Mexico in this chiller about two doctors who resolve to return from the dead with information about the afterlife. The film’s director, Fernando Mendez, was one of Mexican horror’s most stylish filmmakers, composing images in The Black Pit of Dr. M that take full advantage of chiaroscuro, the complex play of shadow and light.

• The film is available to stream for free on Tubi.  

El Espejo de la Bruja (The Witch's Mirror)  (1962, Urueta)

In this ghost story about a craven husband who murders his wife, a mix of gothic horror tropes animate a story about the man’s live-in maid, a witch, who plots to expose his crime by targeting his new, much younger wife with a devilish curse. References to the works of Edgar Allan Poe abound, including guilt, madness, and the ironic inevitability of fate. 

• The film is available to stream for free on Amazon Prime Video.

La Maldición de la Llorona (The Curse of the Crying Woman) (1963, Baledon)

The figure of La Llorona returns again in this chamber piece set at a decaying hacienda, where a mysterious woman haunts the grounds; director Rafael Baledon made several horror films throughout the 1950s and 1960s, and he mines every square inch of the mise-en-scene for its unsettling potential.

• The film is available to rent on Amazon. 

Las Mujeres Panteras  (The Panther Women) (1967, Cardona)

It’s a cult of crazed women bent on blood sacrifice against a detective partnered with a masked luchador wrestler in this mysterious caper from the prolific director Rene Cardona, actor and progenitor of (to date) two subsequent generations of Mexican filmmakers who also bear his name. 

• The film is available to rent on Amazon. 

Tintorera (Tintorera: Killer Shark) (1977, Cardona Jr.)

The success of Jaws (1975, Spielberg) inspired exploitative knock-offs in America, but also in Mexico, and director Rene Cardona Jr. was the right man to handle the job; featuring more direct on-screen violence than the suggestive American blockbuster, Tintorera combines a melodramatic love triangle with shark attacks a-plenty. The Jaws influence is clear; one of the lovestruck men is even named Steven. 

• The film is available to rent on Amazon. 

Cronos (1992, Del Toro)

Before he became one of the biggest names in Mexican cinema thanks to his major American films, Guillermo Del Toro made this feature debut about an ancient timepiece that possesses an antique dealer, and generates in him an insatiable thirst for blood. Del Toro’s penchant for sympathetic monsters was in place early, as was his fondness for the red stuff. 

• The film is available to stream on The Criterion Channel and on Max.

The Old Ways (2020, Alender)

She witnessed her mother’s exorcism as a child; now, a Mexican-American journalist travels back to her home country in search of answers. She enters a cave called La Boca, which the locals believe to be a dangerous and evil place, and soon finds herself trapped in a small room and subjected to a variety of menacing, terrifying rituals that intend to purge the demon that may (or may not) be living inside her soul. The claustrophobic setting gives rise to suggestive close-ups: a fist clenching around a child’s doll; a claw mark on a woman’s forearm. In The Old Ways, horror lives in the small details. 

• The film is available to stream on Netflix.