Topics for Further Study

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Watch any of the televised adaptations or the 1965 film version of Doctor Zhivago with your class. Afterwards, facilitate a class discussion on how the adaptation differs from the original text. Use some of the following questions to initiate the discussion, and feel free to add your own. What themes are highlighted in the adaptation? Does the film evoke different emotions compared to the book? Is Yurii's character portrayed differently in the movie than in the novel? What significance does Yurii and Lara's affair have in the movie, and how does it contrast with the novel? At the end of the discussion, conduct a poll. Ask your classmates which version they prefer, the novel or the movie, and have them explain their choices.

Create a historical presentation comparing the timeline in Pasternak’s novel, which occasionally deviates from actual historical events, with the history of the Bolshevik Revolution. Compare a map of pre-revolutionary Russia with one of the Soviet Union, and describe the changes in the country. Identify the major battles and explain who participated in them, helping your classmates understand groups like the Cossacks, the Partisans, and the White and Red Armies.

Investigate communism as a political ideology. How is a communist economy intended to function? Why did widespread starvation and shortages occur as Lenin, and later Stalin, attempted to establish a communist state in the Soviet Union? Present your research findings to your class.

Using the limited descriptions Pasternak provides for the main characters, Yurii, Lara, and Tonia, create sketches or portraits of them as you envision them. Share your drawings with your class and ask them how your interpretations compare to their own imaginations.

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