Chapter #1: No Dimming of the Sun

• Citra is angry at Scythe Faraday for causing them anxiety over whether or not they were going to die or see their family die. She decides to yell at Scythe Faraday. What were some possible consequences, good or bad, that could have happened from her yelling at Scythe Faraday based on what we knew about him at that point? How is that different from how he actually responded? Do you think she should or shouldn’t have yelled at Scythe Faraday?

  • I think Scythe Faraday could obviously have killed the family. He could have threatened them to get them to do what he wants. He also could have told everyone that Citra yelled at him. He instead gave Citra’s mom immunity and did not kill anyone. Although he did invite himself to dinner at the house of complete strangers, I do not think Citra should have yelled because I do not think it is a good idea to yell at anyone. You do not want people to dislike you.

Chapter #5: I’m only 96

• What did the people at the market who were giving melons or other things want to make Scythe Faraday feel? How do you think they really made him feel? If it was the same, what made them successful? If it was different, what could they have done better?

  • I think they wanted him to feel happy towards them. I think it made him feel slightly annoyed that they thought their behavior was what stopped them from getting gleaned but are getting away with it, but he doesn’t want to show them it did not help because then he will be showing bias. I think they should have tried to use empathy to see what he would actually have liked.

• How did Scythe Faraday’s choice of testing his apprentices in the middle of gleaning the woman make the woman feel? Was this what he intended?

  • I think it made her feel anxious about how she was going to die. I think he was not thinking about her at all, was not showing empathy or making any conscious decisions regarding her. It was not what he intended because he wasn’t intending anything.

Chapter #6: An Elegy of Scythes

• “The businessman” said he was good at making quick decisions. Quick decisions are usually based on emotions. What emotions do you think caused him to make the decisions he made on the plane?

  • I think his decisions were made out of fear an anger. He was scared about what would happen if he didn’t do certain things as well as angry because he didn’t want the scythes to get away with what they were doing.

Chapter #7: Killccraft

• Rowan said he was good at picking his battles. What part of emotional intelligence would that make him more skilled in. Do you agree with him that he is more skilled in this area?

  • I think that is self-regulation and motivation. I think that means knowing what he wants and choosing whether it is worth it to go after it and making sure he can get himself to do what is the best decision. I think he is good at self-regulation but okay in motivation.

Chapter #8: A Matter of Choice

• Scythe Faraday seemed angry when he yelled at Rowan to pick someone to die. Based on the definition of anger as thinking something is not fair and wanting to make it fair, do you think Scythe Faraday was angry? If so, what did he think was unfair? If not, what do you think he was feeling?

  • I do not think he was angry. I think he was pretending to be angry and wasn’t actually angry. I think he was scared Rowan would not be able to make decision if and when he does become a scythe.

Chapter #10: Forbidden Destinies

• Rowan decided to bring Tyger to Scythe Faraday house. What did he hope to get from doing that? What do you think getting what he thought he would get would make him feel? What did he actually accomplish? What did that make him feel? What was similar and different between the two?

  • I think he wanted the risk, thinking it would make him feel happy. I think it instead made him feel scared he would get caught and annoyed he would have to get Tyger out for Tyger. He only got a few moments with his friend. The difference was the risk made him feel annoyed and scared instead of happy and euphoric.

Chapter #11: Indiscretions

• It is appropriate and expected for a scythe to kill the family of people who try to avoid dying. Scythe Faraday decides to not do whatever as expected. What are some consequences of doing this (both good and bad)?

  • I think the best consequence is that less people will die in this moment, but there is still the same quota for Scythe Faraday this year meaning he has to kill the same amount of people anyway. If the story gets out, it could be bad for Scythe Faraday, but everyone who is here would be happy that he broke the rule.

Chapter #12: No Room for Mediocrity

• Citra is really worried about the first test while Rowan is not as worried and does not care. Since worries are a type of thought and not an emotion, what do you think Citra is feeling? What do you think Rowan is feeling? Why do you think they both feel very different things towards the same situation? How can feeling that way help and hurt Citra? How can not feeling that way help and hurt Rowan? How do they both make sure that their emotions help them instead of hurting them?

  • I think Citra is anxious about failing because she doesn’t want to fail. Rowan feels annoyed that Citra is anxious but nothing towards the test itself. I think they both feel very different things because they are different people. Citra tends to care about things more than Rowan. Citra feeling anxious helps her to more likely do well but can annoy people around her. Rowan feeling nothing can help him to relax or focus on something else but can make it more likely for bad things to happen to him. I think Citra can try to make sure she studies more privately, and Rowan can study more because he isn’t doing anything else with this time.

Interesting thought: There is an actual disease called Urbach-Wiethe Disease that actually makes people fearless. It is a difficult condition to have. Everyone else has to instead be brave

Chapter #19: A Terrible Thing to Do

• Citra was guilty she temporarily killed and also embarrassed Rhonda. Her guilt led her to make a bad decision to pretend it didn’t happen. How do you think she could have used her guilt in a better way?

  • I think she could have used her guilt by realizing she did something wrong and deciding to make things better for Rhonda.

By the way I think Rhonda was showing emotional intelligence, especially motivation when she decided not to kill Citra. She thought about it and realized it wouldn’t help anything for her to kill Citra. There were better things she could do in her time.

Another interesting thought is that Scythe Volta is correct that we we can’t be fulfilled, motivated, or happy without suffering, but no matter what world you live in, it is impossible to not experience suffering.

Chapter $27: Harvest Conclave

• When Rowan tried to throw the match, Citra decided to throw the match too, causing Rowan to fail at his goal. If you were Rowan, how would you convince Citra to not throw the match as well? You may decide to have him talk even though he is not allowed to as long as you think it is worth the consequences he will face.

  • I would probably whisper to her that I am tired of having to fight for this stupid thing and say something along the lines of, “Please, can you win?” If someone does hear me, then it would help because I could get disqualified.

  I can’t believe that they use nanites to stop Xenocrates from being angry. Why does he have to not feel angr? Anger is really important. The nanites are literally taking away a part of hims. It doesn’t even hurt anything for him to scream. It actually is a coping mechanism for him. While I don’t think it is the best way of coping, it is much better than tiny robots taking the emotion away.

Chapter #32: Troubled Pilgrimage

• Citra thought the tonists were not surprised to find Citra was a fake tonist, yet they still treated her as one anyway. If she had never blown her cover on the entire pilgrimage. What do you think the tonists would feel and do?

  • I think the tonists would feel scared she was not a tonist but still hopeful that she was. I think they would treat her as a tonist the entire way but suspiciously in a way a non-tonist wouldn’t understand.