ELA AP4 students registering for 2008-2009 have the following summer assignments:

 

Read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. You need to purchase both of these works – We will be further analyzing them in class.  

 

Complete the questions and writing assignments included in this document which are due on the first day of class, 2008.

 

Your first six weeks grade will be largely determined by the effort expended in reading and completing these assignments before the beginning of school. There will be no acceptable excuses.

 

If you have any questions or concerns, you may contact me at:

shakespearerocks2005@yahoo.com

 

Thanks, Mr. Perkins

 

 

INTRODUCTION TO BRAVE NEW WORLD

 

Brave New World, published in 1932, has been described as dystopian, prophetic, cautionary, and absurd. It is all these and more. Aldous Huxley reveals his vision of a potential future should humanity abandon the chaos of individualism for the assurances of permanent social, sexual, and political security. Is pleasing all of the senses and freedom from worry a worthy goal? What would you be willing to give up to achieve that goal?  Huxley’s response to these questions examines the conflict between the Greatest Happiness Principle and the Final End Principle. In exploring this conflict, Huxley has accounted for the advancement in science that is moving at an unprecedented rate in human history. However, Huxley has projected that this advancement may be limited to the specific areas of human development and sensory pleasure. The result is a situation in which Truth and Happiness cannot co-exist. As you read this novel, analyze the elements of the ‘Brave New World’ that are being manifested in our current world.

 

Define the following terms:

Surrogate – prodigious – viviparous – maudlin – surreptitious – simian – imperiously – satiety – solecism – stoicism – asceticism – innocuous – scatological – magnanimity – mollified – sententiously – moribund – flaccid – carapace – deprecating – neurasthenia – superfluous

 

RESPOND TO THE FOLLOWING INQUIRIES IN COMPLETE SENTENCES.

YOUR RESPONSES ARE DUE ON THE FIRST DAY OF CLASSES (8/08)

 

Chapter 1

 

  1. What tone is established in the opening two paragraphs? List the terms that help to establish this tone.
  2. Why is this tone ironic?
  3. What does the director state is the secret of happiness in the World State? Discuss the moral issues this attitude may affect.

 

Chapter 2

 

  1. Why are Delta infants conditioned to hate roses?
  2. What is the affect of Huxley substituting “crash and crash” for ‘mother and father?’
  3. Describe “hypnopaedia” and explain its importance to the World State.

 

Chapter 3

 

  1. Summarize the sexual norms of the World State.
  2. In Chapter 3 Huxley employs an unusual syntactical and organizational structure. What is the affect of this strategy and how does the chapter’s conclusion resolve this affect?
  3. What literary purpose do chapters 1-3 achieve?

 

Chapter 4; Part 1

 

  1. Huxley deliberately chooses names through out this novel that are political allusions. What may be suggested by the names of Bernard Marx and Lenina Crowne? (may require research)
  2. Briefly characterize Bernard Marx.

 

Chapter 4; Part 2

 

  1. Bernard thinks, “I am I, and I wish I wasn’t.” What inferences can be made from his attitude?
  2. What statement (like Bernard’s) might Helmholtz Watson be thinking?

 

Chapter 5; Part 1

 

  1. What is suggested by Huxley’s contrasting use of the words “bottle” and “bottled?”

 

Chapter 5; Part 2

 

  1. What is the underlying purpose of the “Solidarity Service?”

 

Chapter 6; Part 1

 

  1. Why is Bernard’s occupation ironic?
  2. In the context of this novel, what does “pneumatic” mean?

 

Chapter 6; Part 2

 

  1. What does the Director mean when he warns Bernard to never again deviate from “infantile decorum?”

 

Chapter 6; Part 3

 

  1. What implications or inferences can be made from the World State’s use of the term “savages” to describe the inhabitants of the Reservation?

 

Chapter 7

 

  1. Discuss the irony of Lenina being comforted  by the steady banging of the drums reminding her “reassuringly of the synthetic noises made at Solidarity Services and Ford’s Day Celebrations?”

 

Chapter 8

 

  1. In this chapter, John relates to Bernard several stories of his existence on the reservation. Comment on the following:

 

*What repeatedly causes Linda and John to be outcasts within the Reservation?

*What affect does acquiring his total education from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare have on John?

 

Chapter 9

 

  1. What is John’s perception of Lenina’s character?

 

Chapter 10

 

  1. Summarize the Director’s attitude toward individuality.

 

Chapter 11

 

  1. Discuss the irony of John’s presence in London affecting the popularity of Bernard and Lenina.

 

Chapter 12

 

  1. Mustapha Mond reflects that conditioning is not a moral decision, but a practical one. What price must Humanity pay for the choice of conditioning over free-will?

 

Chapter 13

 

  1. Lenina is, for the first time in her life, both physically and emotionally stressed. Describe her, and John’s, confused state.

 

Chapter 14

 

  1. What major event occurs in this chapter?

 

Chapter 15

 

  1. Why must soma be only distributed to Deltas on a daily basis?

Chapter 16

 

  1. In you own words, summarize Mustapha Monds’ beliefs concerning Happiness, Truth, and Science.

 

Chapter 17

 

  1. Who wins the argument between John Savage and Mustapha Mond and why?

 

Chapter 18

 

  1. Explain what John means when he says “I ate civilization.”
  2. What may be symbolically suggested by John’s retreat to a lighthouse?
  3. What details and diction foreshadow John’s suicide?
  4. What statement do you think Huxley is making through John’s suicide?

 

The following is the open-ended essay prompt from the 2004 AP Literature Exam. Respond to this prompt using Brave New World as your source.

 

Critic Roland Barthes has said, “Literature is the question minus the answer.” Choose a novel or play and, considering Barthes’ observation, write an essay in which you analyze a central question the work raises and the extent to which it offers any answers. Explain how the author’s treatment of this question affects your understanding of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION TO FAHRENHEIT 451

 

This 1950 novel by Ray Bradbury examines a distant future in which books (except for instruction manuals and rules) have been banned. Firemen no longer put out fires, they start them. Bradbury asks his audience to contemplate the value of knowledge when contrasted to the allure of ignorance. Your assignment for this work is to annotate the entire work. I expect no less than one (1) note per page. The elements your annotation should focus on are:

  1. The characterization of Guy Montag
  2. All details that reveal attitudes toward the conflict of Knowledge vs. Ignorance
  3. All terms you are not familiar with
  4. Any additional themes or concepts that Bradbury addresses
  5. Any questions or confusing elements you encounter
  6. Note all similarities or significant differences you recognize in relation to Brave New World

I will be collecting your novels for a major grade on your annotation when we return to school.