Much of it centres on Makatea, a small island in French Polynesia whose people must vote on a plan to build floating cities.
Playground by Richard Powers is a novel set for IGCSE and International GCSE Literature (Cambridge International 0475). The board decides the set texts and the years they are examined, and your school confirms them. Our teachers teach whichever text your child sits.
What it is
Todd Keane and Rafi Young meet at a Chicago high school and bond over board games such as Go and chess. Todd later grows rich from an online game and social platform called Playground, while Rafi turns to literature. Rafi marries Ina Aroita, an artist raised on naval bases across the Pacific, and the couple settle on Makatea.
Evie Beaulieu, a pioneering diver and marine scientist, has spent her life exploring the sea. The stories alternate between past and present until all four lives meet as the islanders decide whether to accept the seasteading project.
Themes and ideas to track
Technology and artificial intelligence
Todd's work raises questions about who controls powerful new tools. The novel asks how technology might shape what people believe and choose.
The ocean and the natural world
Evie's chapters celebrate life under the sea with wonder. They also show how human activity threatens that world.
Friendship and rivalry
Todd and Rafi share a deep bond that is strained over time. Games become a way of exploring trust, competition and loss.
Power and small communities
Makatea's residents must judge a plan made by wealthy outsiders. The vote raises questions about history, exploitation and self-rule.
How the writer builds it
Powers moves between several storylines and time periods, so readers must link them together. Todd addresses an unnamed listener, which creates intimacy and raises questions about reliability. Games, especially Go, act as a metaphor for strategy and choice.
Rich, detailed descriptions of the reef contrast with the cooler language of technology. Notice how the structure builds towards the moment when every thread meets.
How to write about it in the exam
Map the four storylines early so you can move between them with confidence. Build arguments around links and contrasts between characters rather than retelling each strand.
Think about how the narrative voice affects what readers trust. Keep references brief and explain how Powers' methods shape meaning.
A teacher can practise essay planning on Playground with your child in a one-hour trial.
An exam-style question to practise
How does Powers present the friendship between Todd and Rafi?
Plan three points before you write, with a short quotation for each. Then check your plan against the mark scheme section below.
More question angles
- Explore how Powers presents the ocean in Evie's sections.
- How does Powers use games as a symbol in the novel?
- Discuss how Powers presents the people of Makatea and their choice.
How this maps to the mark scheme
Examiners mark Literature answers against assessment objectives. These are the skills the paper rewards. For Cambridge International 0475, the objectives are summarised on our qualification page.
- AO1: Show detailed knowledge of the content of literary texts in the three main forms (drama, poetry and prose), supported by reference to the text.
- AO2: Understand the meanings of literary texts and their contexts, and explore texts beyond surface meanings to show deeper awareness of ideas and attitudes.
- AO3: Recognise and appreciate ways in which writers use language, structure and form to create and shape meanings and effects.
- AO4: Communicate a sensitive and informed personal response to literary texts.
- The four assessment objectives carry equal weight, about 25% each.
For Playground, build your argument around “Technology and artificial intelligence” and “The ocean and the natural world”. Support each point with a short quotation. Then analyse the writer's method, using the section above.
Keep context about Richard Powers brief and tied to the words on the page.
Read the text alongside these notes. This page is our own analysis and original teaching material. We quote at most a short attributed phrase where a point needs it, so keep your copy of the novel open as you read.
Where to go next
Plan your essay with our guide to planning a literature essay, then see a worked answer in our literature essay structure model response. Browse more set-text notes or read about Literature in English tuition.
When you have written an answer on Playground, a paid one-hour trial lesson lets the teacher who would continue mark it with you.