This Weekend (3/20-3/22): Finish reading a dystopian novel.
Monday 3/23: Write in class about the end of the dystopian novel.
Tuesday 3/24: Bring in an article (or other writing) about the basis for your own dystopian story. (The article should be about something that you fear about the future or something that is ridiculous about our current culture that could be worse in the future.)
Tuesday night 3/24 pumpkin time: Write a final blog post by responding with intelligence and understanding 1. to something someone else has written about the dystopian novel that you read and 2. to something someone else has written about a dystopian novel that you haven't read.
Wednesday 3/25: Review vocabulary 21-30 and new board words (and work on your own dystopia story).
Thursday 3/26: Review vocabulary sentences (and work on your own dystopia story).
Friday 3/27: Vocabulary quiz (and retakes) (and work on your own dystopia story).
Monday 3/30: Bring in a draft of your own dystopia story (1000-2000 words).
John Board
Day Three
John Board
Day Two
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
1984 by George Orwell
Frontispiece to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
Frontispiece to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein by Theodore Von Holst
Grendel by John Gardner
"Thus I fled, ridiculous hairy creature torn apart by poetry..."
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
7 comments:
Jared W
Brave New World
I agree with absolutely everything Manuela stated in her first post about Brave New World. She couldn’t have explained it better. Manuela was spot on with the setting and theme. Also she described the main process and fear behind this reproduction stage and how the embryos are created. All in all Manuela explained briefly and clearly the main points of this novel.
I’m not quite sure on how to describe this post about someone’s other post about another book. But I’m writing about Chris F’s first post. In this post he is writing about Oryx and Crake. I have not read this book but it seems that he shows a very great understanding to this book. He clearly states what is happening in this book and can relate that the book takes place in the future. He also talks about creatures introduced in the first chapter that he later finds out are called crakers in the next chapter. This shows that he has read the book and it seems as though he shows a great understanding to what is going on. Chris also reveals understanding towards possible meanings of about how the world has become less strict and is accepting the world that it is today.
Ben Mosse
1984
In Shawn's first blog post he sums up the first couple of chapters very nicley. I like how Shawn expains how ironic it is that the minisries in London are the exact opposite of thie meaning.For example how the ministy of peace creates war. However I disagree with Shawn when he says that people living in the society are oppressed. Most of the people of Airstrip one are happy to be under Big Brother and love how they work for the party.
If I were to read another dystopia i would have chosen Brave New World. I found it interesting reading Jared's posts learning about a genetic breeding facility. Jared's post about visting the dystopia was crazy and made me relize that i woulnd never like to be in that situation. Brave New World sounds like a book full of mayhem and after reading Jared's posts i might be willing to read the book someday.
1. Responding to Brave New World, Ryan’s First Post
I don’t agree with what Ryan said in his third section saying that “if we continue to try and clone people no good will come from it.” because the reason for cloning in this book is create a stable environment and it doesn’t matter how they act or if they have a personality. The humans are made not to have a personality and for them just to do their job, nothing else. This way there will never be any conflicts within the society because everyone only knows how to do their job. I do agree with him when he said that this is what could happen if humans were raised like this because if everyone is raised the same and no one would have a personality.
2.Responding to Fahrenheit 451
From what I’ve heard about this book is that firefighters burn books because they don’t believe in them and they go from house to house and burn books because they don’t want anyone reading them. This is similar to the Brave New World because this is like the world controller stopping everyone from having a personality or if they disagree with the society, and if they do cause problems they are shipped away from the World State which is like the books burning because these things are banishing from the society. The people living on reservations away from the World State are like the ashes of the books and they have no power to do anything. The firefighters themselves are like the world controller, both of them control what people can do but the world controller is more effective because he basically created the society that he wanted. The firefighters probably don’t have the effectiveness as the world controller because the firefighters have more rebels to deal with. The idea of the books is similar because people are trying to or are being controlled to do things and there difference is that the controlling is being enforced for different reasons and different purposes.
Christian Towler
I am responding to the first post that Donny VI posted because I enjoyed how he emphasized that loneliness was Jimmy’s worst affliction. Because Jimmy is so lonely he has nothing to do but think about what his life used to be like. While contemplating his past Jimmy tries to make sense of things and reveals things about him that explain his current disposition towards the world in which he lives currently. I also enjoyed how Donny mentioned the difficult physical conditions that Jimmy now must live with. Jimmy’s life is slow and monotonous and he tries to keep himself entertained by having fun with the crakers by lying to them and doing anything that he can to keep him occupied.
The book that I am responding to that I have not read is 1984 by George Orwell. Angela said that Winston struggles to fit into society by having a diary and by having an affair. This is vaguely similar to Jimmy in Oryx and Crake because he too has trouble fitting into his surroundings. It sounds as though all of Winston’s problems are brought by the constraints of society whereas Jimmy’s problems were due to the apocalypse.
Jason L.
Brave new world
I agree with what nick is saying about everyone just enjoying life with no complaint and going along with it and we do go on to find out later that everyone is made to believe there happy because the soma makes them ignorant to their problems not just the high caste Alphas. I don’t agree as to cloning be Huxley main fear, as much as people just wanting everything handed to them as being the main fear of Huxley. Also people wanting to be happy at any cost, even if the cost is Art, science or even individuality for that matter. But you could argue cloning as well because of the way people are made in tubes and how this could be the cause of no families but I believe Huxley took a different approach to this conflict.
I read a post about 1984 being about totarianism, which is basically the government having control over everything you do (at least in 1984’s case). In brave new world you could argue this is also the case. How the Humans are made in test tubes and conditioned to do a certain job, you could certainly argue this to be government control because it seems as though Mustapha Mond and the other controllers know all the “secret books” and information that normal people who they created and told what to do are not allow to read or know. Although this is not the point Huxley is trying to make with Brave New world, you could still see government control as an issue in brave new world
Chris Frontiero
Oryx and Crake
1. Christian Towler’s first blog post is a perfect summary of the beginning of the book without knowing much else about it. I read it, and it is funny to look back and see the mistakes that everyone who wrote about Oryx and Crake have made. Most of us believed that Snowman was the only living human, while in fact there were more of them around.
The only thing I see wrong about his post is the lack of other dystopian elements in the book. He might not have read so far at the time, but there is also a surprising tolerance to very illegal and inappropriate things, and intolerance to people of lower class. Over all, a good post for the beginning of the book.
2. I have not read *1984*, but it seems like a good dystopian novel. Shawn Hull clearly illustrates the future that George Orwell is afraid of. I can tell that the government has turned into a sort of tyrannical rule, and Shawn shows that absolute power corrupts absolutely. The only clear problem I can find in this entire post is when Shawn typed *1894* instead of *1984*. This makes me feel like reading the book, or possibly reading about the plot on certain websites.
1984
1.I agree with things that Shawn's blogs i feel that shawn hit the nail on the head with how he explains Londan. I also agree with angela's post and how she talks about Winston struggles to fit into society by having a diary and by having an affair.
2. if i was to read another distopia i would read brave new world. I am reponding to manuela's respound. i feel that its even though i haven't read this book i feel like because of her blog post's it really made me wanna read this book i dont feel that she could of explained it any better.
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