George Orwell
Animal Farm as AllegoryHandouts & Helpful Links
READING ASSIGNMENTAs you consider Animal Farm, be ready to discuss this question:Allegories: Why bother? What do allegories allow? Why would an author choose to tell a story or convey a message allegorically?
|
Animal Farm Related ReadingThe notion of intertextuality, allegory, and symbolism:
The Freedom of the Press by George Orwell
|
1984 by George Orwell
Power and Control: Creating a Totalitarian Society (from The Center for Learning)
Creating a Totalitarian Society
- Total = complete
- ism = system; set of principles or beliefs
- "Totalitarianism is a form of government which enforces total or complete control over its citizens. There are no opposing parties or groups. Individual rights protecting the members of this society against the government are not permitted" (Hogue).
Creating a Totalitarian Society
- 4 minutes: Individually, read the handout entitled "Utopias and Anti-Utopias."
- 6 minutes: Individually, read the handout entitled "Power & Control" and silently indicate/mark TEN items that you think would be important to the success of your group's dictatorship on a separate sheet of paper.
- 15 minutes: As a group, discuss each member's individual choices. As a group, come to a consensus on FIVE items (note this is different from what the handout states). As you do this, one person in the group should be completing the Google Form in Google Classroom associated with this activity. You will need to state a reason for why each of the five items is important for your dictatorship's total and successful control.
- 10 minutes: General class discussion - Totalitarianism, utopias, dystopias
Reading Assignment for 1984You will be working in groups to analyze 1984 by George Orwell, and you will record your observations on a group Google Document. You will have a core group that you are responsible for “teaching” throughout the entirety of this novel study. Prior to teaching and discussing within your core group, however, you will have an opportunity to work with the members from other groups who are assigned your like topic to ensure you have all of the information you need to be able to effectively teach your core group members.
In our Google Classroom, you will find the document we will use as we study the novel. One member of your group needs to open the document and then share it with the other members of the group and the instructors. Group assignments are included in the Google Classroom instructions for this assignment. Once you have shared your document, you need to decide on individual tasks for the literary terms and book 1. Refer to the class calendar for reading due dates. Class Handouts |
1984 Related Reading
Is it 1984? Final Discussion Board Forum
Read and annotate the following article and then visit the Google Classroom discussion assignment to post a position statement that addresses the question, "Are we living in an Orwellian society?" In your answer, cite evidence from one or both of the articles. Keep your response BRIEF. Aim to cap your response at seven sentences. Be ready to address comments made by at least two of your classmates next class in a discussion.
|
"Politics and the English Language" by George Orwell
Read and annotate "Politics in the English Language" by George Orwell. You received a hard copy of this essay in class so that you could write on and annotate it as you read "deliberately." Practice the advice of the Harvard handout: Interrogating Texts. Prepare to discuss it in class.
|
"Language [is] an instrument for expressing and not for concealing or preventing thought." "Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable." |