C Block
Theme-Dystopia/Utopia
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
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 worstcase scenario, make a criticism about a
current trend, societal norm, or political
system.
The Selection Process
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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.
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Once the groups have been
selected I will review the Lit.
Circle process.
1.Oryx and Crake
by Margaret Atwood
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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 nearfuture 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, humanlike 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-MargaretAtwood/dp/0385721676
One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nest
by Ken Kesey
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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.
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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.
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Source:http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/LitNote/One-Flew-Overthe-Cuckoo-s-Nest.id-136.html
Anthem
by Ayn Rand
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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
The Handmaid’s Tale
By Margaret Atwood
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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/LitNot
e/The-Handmaid-s-Tale.id-122.html
Fahrenheit 451
by Ray Bradbury
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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/Fahrenheit451.id-106.html
Blindness
by Jose Saramago
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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_
A Brave New World
By Adlous Huxley
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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/LitNot
e/Brave-New-World.id-45.html
The Uglies
by Scott Westerfield
This 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.
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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."
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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.
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The point of these operations is to stop wars and
disagreements among people just because they
look different from one another
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Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Uglies_series