Extra Credit:
Extended Holiday Reading & Writing Enrichment
Worth: Every 5 pts you earn is +2.5pts towards your writing grade. ____/20
Option 1: Ayn Rand’s Anthem (1938)
Summary: "Anthem" is a dystopian fiction novella by Ayn Rand, written in 1937 and first published in 1938 in
England. It takes place at some unspecified future date when mankind has entered another dark age
characterized by irrationality, collectivism, and socialistic thinking and economics. Technological advancement
is now carefully planned (when it is allowed to occur at all) and the concept of individuality has been
eliminated (the use of the word "I" or "Ego" is punishable by death).
Task: Write an essay on one of the following three topics:
1. Equality understands that his invention will benefit mankind greatly; however, this was not his main
motivation in conducting his experiments, and it is not the primary source of the great joy he
experiences. Discuss.
2. Compare the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden with the story of Equality 7-2521.
For what “sins” were each condemned? In what ways are Equality 7-2521 and Adam similar? How do
they differ?
3. Equality reaches the important realization that “To be free, a man must be free of his brothers”.
Explain what Equality means by this, citing examples from Anthem.
Essays will be judged on both style and content. Judges will look for writing that is clear, articulate and
logically organized. Winning essays must demonstrate an outstanding grasp of the philosophic meaning
of Anthem.
Option 2: Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 (1953)
Summary: A masterwork of twentieth-century literature set in a bleak, dystopian future. Guy Montag is a
fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires
rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with
the houses in which they are hidden.
Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland
life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television “family.” But then he meets an eccentric young
neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one
sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television.
Task: Write an essay on one of the following three topics:
1) Write an essay arguing what you believe is Bradbury’s motivation for writing Fahrenheit 451.
2) The novel was a warning to society at the time it was written. What do you think the novel is a warning of
and why?
3) Show the dangers of “The censorship and suppression of ideas” in society based on examples from the
novel.