Syllabus for December 17-21
WHAT IF SOCIETY TURNED upside down, and everything we valued reversed itself? What if, instead of valuing freedom, independent thought, and creative expression, America valued national advancement, the party’s political truth, and protecting power in the hands of an elite minority? This week we start Orwell’s 1984, a dystopian classic depicting an individual at odds with everything in society.
Monday
Listening to chapters two and three today in class. While reading, students should annotate chapter two for Winston’s encounter with Parsons. What do we learn about the world of 1984 through his interactions with them? What about his post-visit wanderings that lead him to reflecting on O’Brien? For chapter three, pay particular attention to Winston’s memory of his family, as well as his thoughts about “the woman with dark hair.” What do these dreams of loss mean, and what does Orwell mean my them?
HW: Read chapter four in 1984 tonight. What point is Orwell making about history and truth with Winston’s profession as rewriter/inventor of history?
Tuesday
Discussing what we’ve learned about Winston’s world and Oceania. What questions to you have, as a reader, about what the novel means? That patterns do we notice within the world of the novel? What do facts and truth mean in this world, wherein what has already happened can be changed like a Wikipedia page? Working on a shared google sheet.
HW: Read chapter five tonight. As you read, annotate for this question: What is Orwell’s opinion of language?
Wednesday
Oxford University Press has a blog that discusses the attributes of Newspeak. Read it!
Analysis of language of 1984. What are the terms we’ve encountered so far? What do these terms mean, in the world of the novel? What does Orwell mean by twisting them, in terms of the point he is making about society? Continuing our google sheet.
HW: Reading chapter six. How does Winston define what it means to be human?
Thursday
It’s been said that all of literature covers either death or sex, and sometimes both. We’ve already read about death in 1984, and now we arrive at the later. Of the human experience, what is Winston lacking? Is it merely sex? What more is lacking in his world?
HW: Reading chapter seven. Given what we’ve already seen in chapter six, what do you make of the argument Winston makes about revolution? Stepping outside of the novel, what argument is Orwell making through his novel?
Friday
Today we will finish part one of 1984.
HW: Take a break. We will finish parts two and three of the novel when school resumes. Happy new year!