Study Guide for : The Heart Goes Last & Comprehension Test

The Heart Goes Last
by Margaret Atwood
About_
The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood is a darkly comic dystopian novel about a married couple who trade their
freedom for stability in a strange experimental town after an economic collapse. This study guide helps students
explore the characters, events, and themes of the story through close reading and critical thinking. It follows the
plot section by section and encourages students to question the choices characters make. This study guide
contains 65 questions across 5 chapter sections (50 Factual + 15 Critical), 1 Crossword Puzzle (12 clues), and 1
Character Focus Activity.
What’s Included_
This study guide features 5 sets of 10 Factual Questions with an answer key (50 total), 5 sets of 3 Critical Analysis
Questions (15 total), 1 Crossword Puzzle (12 clues), and 1 Character Focus Activity (8 traits + evidence prompt +
critical thinking question).
Target Grades_
Grades 10-12
Teacher Note_
This guide gives your students a clear path through a complex and provocative novel, building comprehension with
factual questions and deeper thinking with critical analysis prompts. The ready-made activities and answer key
save you valuable preparation time, so you can focus on rich classroom discussion. We hope it makes teaching this
satirical story both rewarding and enjoyable.
About the Author
Margaret Atwood is one of Canada’s most celebrated writers, known for novels, poetry, and essays that explore power,
gender, and society. Her best-known works, such as The Handmaid’s Tale, often imagine futures that feel uncomfortably close
to the present. The Heart Goes Last continues this tradition by mixing sharp satire with suspense.
A World Under Economic Strain
The novel is set in a near future in which a severe financial collapse has left many ordinary people without jobs or homes. It
follows a married couple struggling to survive in this unstable world. As you read, think about how money, work, and fear of
losing both can shape the choices people make.
Dystopian Fiction and Satire
Dystopian fiction imagines societies where something has gone wrong, often to warn readers about trends in our own world.
Atwood combines this with dark humor, using exaggeration to point out problems in how we think about security, technology,
and personal freedom. Watch for the questions the novel raises about how much of our independence we would give up for
comfort.