All the Years of Her Life

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. Think about situations in which a person might be caught doing something wrong or dishonest. What are different ways that the person might handle the consequences? What emotions might be involved?

Teaching Suggestion: Before introducing the text “All the Years of Her Life” by Morley Callaghan, consider engaging students in a pre-reading activity that explores the themes of honesty, consequences, and personal accountability. To avoid focusing on real situations that students may not wish to share, you could present students with hypothetical scenarios or real-life examples in which individuals faced a moral dilemma or made dishonest choices. Discuss the potential consequences of such actions and encourage students to reflect on their own feelings and experiences related to dishonesty and its aftermath.

• “Why People Become Defensive and How to Address It” from Science Daily discusses a common response people have to being caught doing something wrong.
• “Should We Tolerate Shoplifting?” from Psychology Today explores some of the reasons young people shoplift (like Alfred in Callaghan’s story) and the excuses they use to justify it.