Hear Ye Mortals

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After students read Hear Ye Mortals, invite discussion about the role music plays throughout the novel and how songs can unite people, inspire hope, encourage action, and give voice to communities facing injustice. While Daniel and Adrián never set out to write "Lágrimas de Marrano" as a protest song, it becomes an anthem of resistance because listeners find strength and solidarity in its message. Discuss why music often becomes intertwined with social movements and how artists do not always choose the impact of their work, but they can choose to create with purpose and heart.

Then, have students develop lyrics for an original song or write a spoken-word piece that serves as an anthem for a cause they care about, current events, or social issues that affect them, their community, or the wider world. As students write, challenge them to incorporate techniques that make songs memorable and meaningful, such as repetition, imagery, symbolism, or a powerful chorus. Encourage them to think about how music can inspire empathy, build community, or motivate people to take action.

Give students the opportunity to put their lyrics to music and invite volunteers to perform completed songs or read their words aloud for the class. After each performance, invite listeners to share what messages, emotions, or calls to action they took away from the piece. Follow with a discussion about how audience responses compare to the writers’ intentions and how music can spread ideas and hope in ways that other forms of communication cannot.

Questions for Discussion or Reflective Writing

• What perspective does the omniscient angel narrator bring to the story? What does the angel symbolize? Why do you think the author kept the angel unnamed until the end of the book?
• How is Río Babel more than just a band? Why do the members feel a sense of loyalty and responsibility to one another?
• What is "Lágrimas de Marrano" about? How is it interpreted by those who hear the song? What do Daniel, Adrián, and their bandmates learn about the relationship between an artist’s intention and the way others understand their work?
• The members of Río Babel must decide whether to continue pursuing music when doing so puts them at risk. What influences their choices? Do you agree with the decisions they make? Why or why not?
• How and why does music become a powerful tool for protest and social change? Why might those in power see a teenage band or a song as a threat? What events or social issues, both past and present, have inspired artists to use music as a way to speak out?
• Before reading this book, what did you know about Argentina’s Dirty War? How did the destruction of democracy and the realities of life under a military dictatorship portrayed in Hear Ye Mortals change the way you think about your own community, your own freedoms, or your own responsibilities?
• After being transported to another time and place, how did Hear Ye Mortals help you return to your own world with a new perspective?

Related Resources

From Dictatorships to Stadiums, the Origins of Argentina’s Rock Nacional from Spin Magazine

The Sound of Peace: The Transformative Influence of Rock Nacional in Argentina from the Museum of Peace at the University of St. Andrews

Music and Social Justice Movements from TeachRock

Learning From Lyrics from the Kennedy Center