The Inheritance Games

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

What are some psychological struggles associated with inherited wealth? Why might children who inherit great wealth feel isolated? What might be the stages of Sudden Wealth Syndrome? What advice might help someone who has suddenly acquired significant wealth?

Teaching Suggestion: To whet students’ interest, you might share some or all of these details about the novel that connect to the Short Answer question: The Inheritance Games is about a teenage girl who receives a vast amount of wealth and must live with the family who expected to inherit the wealth themselves. Throughout the novel, Avery, the protagonist, struggles to cope with her acquired wealth, her new social setting, and not knowing whom she can trust. She also seeks to answer the question of how she managed to inherit the fortune from the family’s patriarch, whom she believes she has never met. On the other hand, members of the patriarch’s family also wrestle with the psychological pressures of inherited wealth and the disappointment of failing to inherit.

• This article describes the psychological impact of inherited wealth.