Honors English II—George Orwell 1984 Unit
Dr. Taylor—October 3-7, 2011
Name_____________
April is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land (1922)
Goals for 1984:
 Remember to bring your book to class EVERY DAY. Occasional unannounced book
checks will award points to students who remember their books.
 Know the basic ideas of Plato’s Republic and the education of the philosopher-king.
 Know the basic ideas of Karl Marx.
 Be able to link the following texts and concepts to 1984: Haroun and the Sea of Stories,
Plato's Republic, especially the "Allegory of the Cave" and Mr. Harned's explanation of
the Line of Cognition, the feudal/Christian hierarchy of the Great Chain of Being (as
expressed in Journey to the Hebrides and Macbeth), Machiavelli's the Prince, the
opening lines of T.S. Eliot's Waste Land, and the PBS special “Buying the War”
 Be able to relate the Orwell essay "Shooting an Elephant," especially its thesis, to 1984.
(“When the white man turns tyrant, it is his own freedom that he destroys.”)
 Know the answers to the study questions on 1984 and be able to identify the novel's
characters and their purposes in the novel.
 Know the vocabulary given in the student-generated vocabulary list.
 Know and be able to identify the propaganda techniques discussed in class.
 With a classmate, give an in-class presentation on one of the novel's major themes.
 Write a formal academic essay that responds to one of the themes developed by in-class
student presentations.
 Take a Unit Exam on the above concepts.
October 3-7, 2011
Monday: Buying the War + Anwar al Awlaki’s assassination: security versus the Bill of
Rights. The U.S., democracy, and the totalitarian state of Big Brother
Due: Outlines for 1984 paper
Tuesday: Buying the War
Wednesday: 1984 vocabulary review + finish DVD + review worksheet on DVD
Thursday: Discuss Buying the War + Propaganda techniques + Parallelism
Homework: Conjunctive Adverbs
Friday: In-class reading “The Allegory of the Cave” by Plato
Homework: Write the conference draft of your 1984 paper.
October 10-14, 2011
Monday: Mr. Harned on Plato
Due: 1984 Conference Draft
Homework: Complex Sentences + Passive Voice
Tuesday: Review for PSAT
Wednesday: PSAT
Thursday: Review for 1984 exam
Friday: 1984 Unit Exam
Homework: Begin reading Candide (1759), by Voltaire