C Block Theme-Dystopia/Utopia

1. Literature Circle Selections C Block Theme-Dystopia/Utopia

2. Definition of Utopia • 1. • a. often Utopia An ideally perfect place, especially in its social, political, and moral aspects. • b. A work of fiction describing a utopia. • 2. An impractical, idealistic scheme for social and political reform

3. Definition of Dystopia • A futuristic, imagined universe in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through corporate, bureaucratic, technological, moral, or totalitarian control. • Dystopias, through an exaggerated worst-case scenario, make a criticism about a current trend, societal norm, or political system.

4. Review the selections I have provided in class under the theme of Utopia/Dystopia Write in order the novels you would like to read in order of preference (1-8) Hand this list into Ms. Watson (me) prior to April 7th 2011. When the groups are selected I will try my best to accommodate everyone but understand that there are only so many of each novel so it may be difficult. Once the groups have been selected I will review the Lit. Circle process. The Selection Process

5. In , a science fiction novel that is more Swift than Heinlein, more cautionary tale than "fictional science" (no flying cars here), Margaret Atwood depicts a near-future world that turns from the merely horrible to the horrific, from a fool's paradise to a bio-wasteland. Snowman (a man once known as Jimmy) sleeps in a tree and just might be the only human left on our devastated planet. He is not entirely alone, however, as he considers himself the shepherd of a group of experimental, human-like creatures called the Children of Crake. As he scavenges and tends to his insect bites, Snowman recalls in flashbacks how the world fell apart. Source: http://www.amazon.com/Oryx-Crake-Margaret-Atwood/dp/0385721676 1.Oryx and Crakeby Margaret Atwood

6. Ken Kesey's first novel One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest tells Chief Bromden's story of life in a mental hospital. Bromden's strictly ordered environment is disrupted by the introduction of a force of unwavering individuality, a new patient named Randle Patrick McMurphy. McMurphy soon galvanizes the other patients against Nurse Ratched's oppressive control, but things turn sour as the patients' personal independence collides with Nurse Ratched's authoritarian power. Source:http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/LitNote/One-Flew-Over-the-Cuckoo-s-Nest.id-136.html One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nestby Ken Kesey

7. In Ayn Rand's Anthem, hero Equality 7-2521 yearns to be a scientist but is held back by a government that fears his intelligence. Ayn Rand's novella, set in a futuristic dictatorship, centers on the sins of free thought in a dark world of Collectivism, where individuals exist solely to serve the state. Equality 7-2521 dares to think, explore, imagine, question, love, and even discover electricity. He commits the ultimate sin when he rediscovers the Unspeakable Word — "I." Source:http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/LitNote/Anthem.id-17.html Anthemby Ayn Rand

8. Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale takes place after a religious coup overthrows the U.S. government and wages nuclear war. Offred considers how she went from a happily married, successful woman to a handmaid. Her name literally means "Of Fred" — the property of a state official with whom she is duty-bound to conceive a child. The founders of Margaret Atwood's dystopian society hoped to improve humanity, but people were doomed to fall short of the new society's rules. Source:http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/LitNote/The-Handmaid-s-Tale.id-122.html The Handmaid’s TaleBy Margaret Atwood

9. In Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, you journey to the 24th century to an overpopulated world in which the media controls the masses, censorship prevails over intellect, and books are considered evil because they make people question and think. The story is told by Guy Montag, a fireman who burns books for a living. Ray Bradbury's ability to create psychologically complex and ambiguous characters like Guy Montag enabled science fiction to be taken seriously in the literary world Source: http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/LitNote/Fahrenheit-451.id-106.html Fahrenheit 451by Ray Bradbury

10. Blindness is the story of an unexplained mass epidemic of blindness afflicting nearly everyone in an unnamed city, and the social breakdown that swiftly follows. The novel follows the misfortunes of a handful of characters who are among the first to be stricken and centers around a doctor and his wife, several of the doctor’s patients, and assorted others, thrown together by chance. This group bands together in a family-like unit to survive by their wits and by the unexplained good fortune that the doctor’s wife has escaped the blindness. The sudden onset and unexplained origin and nature of the blindness cause widespread panic, and the social order rapidly unravels as the government attempts to contain the apparent contagion and keep order via increasingly repressive and inept measures. Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blindness_ Blindnessby Jose Saramago

11. Aldous Huxley's Brave New World looks to the year 2540, where society accepts promiscuous sex and drug use and science has made humanity carefree, healthy, and technologically advanced. War and poverty no longer exist, and people are always happy. But these achievements have come by eliminating things from which people derive happiness — family, cultural diversity, art, literature, and religion. Source:http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/LitNote/Brave-New-World.id-45.html A Brave New WorldBy Adlous Huxley

12. Uglies is a book by Scott Westerfeld for ages 11 and up. The story follows a teenage girl named Tally Youngblood who lives several centuries from now in a futuristic city where you're a "littlie" until you turn twelve, when you go to live in an ugly dorm. Uglies are educated into thinking they're hideous until they turn 16, when they get an operation that turns them into beautiful "Pretties." Right after the operation, they are "New Pretties": self-absorbed fools whose only purpose in life seems to be to party. "Middle Pretties" have picked their professions and gone through a second, minor operation that makes them look older and wiser; "Late Pretties," or "Crumblies," are parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc. The point of these operations is to stop wars and disagreements among people just because they look different from one another Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Uglies_series The Ugliesby Scott WesterfieldThis option is a new selection that I sadly do not have copies for  I placed it amongst the selection in case there are enough people interested in reading it you may purchase or search in the public library a copy and form a group of no less than 4.