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

1. You may have heard the term “poorhouse” in history or literature. What is a poorhouse? By extension, what do you think the term “poor farm” means? Generally, in what historical time period do you think poor farms existed?

Teaching Suggestion: Many online sources use both terms (“poorhouse” and “poor farm”) along with “almshouse” and “indoor relief” to describe the places where the poor lived and received aid. Class discussion on this topic might extend to living conditions and potential injustices and dangers of the poorhouse/poor farm system. Brief online investigation will reveal to students that poor farms were a widespread institution in the history of the United States. Connect to the novel by explaining that the story’s setting, Fox Hill Inn in Vermont, was once a fictitious poor farm.

• This article on poor farms in Vermont comes from the Vermont Historical Society.
• In this article, the New England Historical Society offers information on “A Poorhouse in Each New England State.