ENG3U1 CULMINATINGAKA The Main Event

THE BRASS TACKS The following are the required elements of your culminating activity:

A reader’s diary (8 entries, one page each, process of reading and gathering ideas) A comparative essay (4-6 pages double spaced, 3 secondary sources, 2 direct

quotations) A short presentation (5-7 minutes, creative/media component, alternate theme)

These elements must be based around a dystopian novel of your choosing and a media component that you deem fit for comparison

The media component can be connected to the novel through direct interpretation or a thematic/cultural commonality you’d like to explore

Remember, the argument you create in your comparative essay should go past pointing out the differences and similarities between two products, and should strive to find an element of purpose in those similarities and differences

For this reason, choosing your novel and media is an important task

OTHER IMPORTANT DATES

Reader’s Diary:May 31st

Comparative Essay:June 14th

Presentations:June 1st-June 12th

May 1st: Culminating Begins

May 2nd-20th: Reading and Research

May 21st-31st: Teacher Conferences

THE SHORT LISTSuggested Novels and Topics

THE HANDMAID’S TALE By Margaret Atwood

Snapshot:

A bleak future where procreation has become increasingly difficult, and fertile women are forced to serve as Handmaid’s, carriers of children

Explores major themes of gender identity, religious based totalitarian regimes, how women gain power and agency in society

1984 By George Orwell

Snapshot:

A society constantly at war and needing means to control their citizens implements a regime that seeks to oppress all free thought through often violent means

Explores major themes of nationalism, free thought and control, surveillance and censorship, and individuality

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE By Anthony Burgess

Snapshot:

A near future society that is plagued with youth violence and rebellion is profiled through the eyes of one such youth before he becomes a prisoner of the state and subjected to their means of influence

Explores major themes of youth culture, linguistics, human violence, free will and the reduction of free will to create stability

FAHRENHEIT 451 By Ray Bradbury

Snapshot:

A society where free thought has been completely eliminated, and the job of a fireman is not to extinguish fires, but rather to burn all houses that contain books

Explores major themes of individuality and conformity, the control of individuals by mass media, the importance of literature

V FOR VENDETTA By Alan Moore and David Lloyd

Snapshot:

In a fascist England after a nuclear war has destroyed most of the world, an anarchist revolutionary wearing a Guy Fawkes mask begins a campaign to overthrow the ruling party and bring power back to the people

Explores major themes of anarchism and rebellion, fascism and control, the nature of identity

WORLD WAR Z By Max Brooks

Snapshot:

A collection of individual accounts that form an oral history of the zombie war which plagued the nation ten years earlier, showing the geopolitical effect of the war

Major themes include oral history and retelling of events, survivalism and fear, and the place of zombies in our culture

THE ROAD By Cormac McCarthy

Snapshot:

A father and his young son travel across a desolate landscape in a post-apocalyptic world encountering the devolution of humanity in a world where almost all life has been destroyed

Major themes include isolationism, family and the individual, modern environmentalism

NEVER LET ME GO By Kazuo Ishiguro

Snapshot:

THE CHILDREN OF MEN By PD James

Snapshot:

In the near future male sperm counts have plummeted to zero with the last child being born close to 30 years prior, leaving a totalitarian government to try and police its citizens who are increasingly more disillusioned with their lives

Major themes include gender and sexuality, youth and experience, and the nature of religion

THE HUNGER GAMES By Suzanne Collins

Snapshot:

Katniss kills people with a bow and arrow, Peeta makes cakes and somehow also is able to create full special effects makeup as a result, President Frost is Jack Bauer’s father

Major themes include Jennifer Lawrence being both beautiful and talented and how to rip off an already insanely popular Japanese cult classic for corporate gain

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

NO HUNGER GAMES!