Senior AP/IB English Summer Assignment 2014
Dear AP and IB English IV students,
Your senior year will begin with an exploration of dystopian novels. We are thrilled to join you
as you take all the marvelous skills you’ve learned as a literary critic and apply them to a senior
curriculum rich with long-standing canonical pieces as well as modern works widely recognized for
their brilliance.
We’ll start the year in The Republic of Gilead, a dystopian theocracy crafted by Booker Prize
winning Canadian author Margaret Atwood who wrote this novel of literary merit in 1986. In
interviews, Atwood has revealed that Gilead was entirely structured using details from societies that
existed as she wrote the novel or that she studied from history. Annotate as you read, paying
particular attention to the political, social and economic structures presented. Your summer
assignment consists of three steps:
1. Actively read and annotate The Handmaid’s Tale.
2. In addition to labeling devices and noting character development, read for relevancy; in
other words evaluate Atwood’s vision and compare it to the reality of our world today,
and/or to societies you are familiar with from your study of history.
3. Create a four-column chart comparing The Republic of Gilead to analogous regions,
societies, governments, systems. In column one list a characteristic/detail from the novel,
in column two record the page number, in column three list the comparable
characteristic/detail from some system/region/government that exists today or has existed,
and in column four provide commentary that discusses and evaluates Atwood’s text. You
should have at least ten rows of details with commentary to complete your chart.
4. In addition to reading and analyzing The Handmaid’s Tale, please return to school with a
copy of Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. We will begin reading this novel before the
PTSA book orders are filled.
This assignment is due the first day of class and must be submitted to turnitin.com as
soon as you have your assigned class. Be prepared to turn in your typed four-column chart, show
your annotated copy of The Handmaid’s Tale, and discuss the novel. If you have any questions
about this assignment, stop by and see us before summer break begins or email us anytime.
PS – prepare for a reading quiz as part of the first day back festivities!
Stacy Rodgers
srodgers@austinisd.org
Room 344
Frank Pool
fpool@austinisd.org
Room 321
John Villarreal
john.villarreal@austinisd.org
Room 321
SAMPLE CHART:
Detail
“Resettlement of the
Children of Ham is
continuing on schedule,”
says the reassuring pink
face, back on the screen.
“Three thousand have
arrived this week in
National Homeland One,
with another two thousand
in transit.”
“Nearly all children
nowadays were
horrible…they adored the
Party and everything
connected with it. The
songs, the processions,
the banners, the hiking,
the drilling with dummy
rifles, the yelling of
slogans, the worship of
Big Brother”
PG
19
24
Application
During World War 2, over 100,000 Japanese
Americans were forcibly interred in Civilian
Assembly Centers, Relocation Centers, and/or
detention camps.
Militant groups employ children throughout the
world to carry out nationalistic, racially or
religiously motivated vendettas. See Sri Lanka
(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Lanka
-to-rehabilitate-child-soldiers-recruited-by-LTTE/articleshow/4573579.cms)
Congo
(http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AFR62/0
34/2003)
Et al.
Commentary
The understated tone Orwell uses in this
passage effectively conveys the uncanny
ubiquity of Big Brother in this Oceania and the
fear BB exercised over his citizens. While the
matter-of-fact tone (“simply,” “usual”) reveals
Winston’s acceptance of this control, the degree
to which he reflects on his possible annihilation
(“abolished, annihilated, vaporized”) conveys the
fear and resentment he carries. This sort of fear
is realized by minority groups in even the most
democratic of states today, as evidenced by the
difficulties minority Middle Eastern travelers
faced in airports in the years following 9-11.
Winston’s disgust at these children evinces a
few sentences later when he considers a Spy
child hailed in the newspaper as a hero to be
more of an “eavesdropping little sneak” (24).
While Winston locates most of his mistrust and
anger directly on the heads of the children (for
reasons that become clearer as his story arc
develops), Big Brother clearly recruits and
manipulates children into serving as vehicles by
which they instill fear and maintain control.