Homework answers / question archive / Chytazia 1984 Study Guide Dystopian Classic Do you like Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games series? If so, you will most likely enjoy George Orwell’s 1984 since they are both classified as dystopian literature

Chytazia 1984 Study Guide Dystopian Classic Do you like Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games series? If so, you will most likely enjoy George Orwell’s 1984 since they are both classified as dystopian literature

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Chytazia 1984 Study Guide Dystopian Classic Do you like Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games series? If so, you will most likely enjoy George Orwell’s 1984 since they are both classified as dystopian literature. Dystopian works occur in anti-utopian (or the opposite of perfect) societies that often feature totalitarian governments bent on corruption, terror, and sometimes mind control. While reading 1984, see if you can think of other dystopian books you have read or movies you have seen. Be a Better Reader As you work through the study guide for 1984, you will also practice these skills, which will help as you read novels in the future, for school assignments or just for fun. 1. Describe the development of the main character. 2. Discuss how the plot develops throughout the novel. 3. Describe themes in the novel and trace their development throughout the text. 4. Cite textual evidence to support discussion of the novel. 5. Discuss how point of view affects the content of the novel. Behind the Scenes George Orwell’s 1984 was published in Great Britain in 1949 following the end of World War II, a war which saw the rise of fascism in Italy, Adolf Hitler in Germany, the Holocaust throughout mainland Europe, and the United States dropping two atomic bombs on Japan. Due to a bout of tuberculosis, Orwell was unable to fight in the war, but served instead as a producer for the British Broadcasting Company. When Orwell began writing the novel in 1945, world peace seemed to be growing nearer, yet hampered by the rise of communism and the Cold War which resulted from the settlement of World War II which created Soviet-controlled communist countries and democratically-inspired countries led by the United States and Great Britain. These historical events influenced Orwell, born Eric Arthur Blair, so heavily that numerous parallels exist between World War II and 1984. Get This! 1. Look for reasons why Winston Smith, the main character of the novel, is classified as an antihero, a character that is morally flawed and sometimes unlikeable. 2. Notice how Orwell uses songs and poems, a room, a paperweight, and a slogan to symbolize specific aspects of the novel. 3. 1984 possesses a tone of frightening uncertainty and unrest. Look for how George Orwell, the author, creates the novel’s mood and tone. Student Name: Chytazia 1984 Study Guide The Plot George Orwell’s 1984 focuses on government employee Winston Smith’s growing wariness about the propaganda he sees daily and his eventual arrest for thought crime. As you read the novel, fill in the boxes for each element of the plot. Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Student Name: Chytazia 1984 Study Guide The Character of Winston Smith 1984 focuses on Winston Smith’s growing disbelief in the Party, his rebellion, arrest, and retraining through torture. For each of the instances below, identify a passage about or a quote by Winston Smith. Then discuss what the author is trying to convey through it. Look for ways that Winston is an antihero and write a few sentences about it. Example Passage about or Quote by Winston Smith What the Author is Trying to Convey Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Enter Text Here 4. Winston continues to resist the Party’s mantras. Enter Text Here Enter Text Here 5. Winston betrays Julia. Enter Text Here Enter Text Here 1. Winston’s physical appearance 2. Winston destroys the evidence that would free Jones, Aaronson, and Rutherford. 3. Winston agrees to commit violent acts to help the Brotherhood. Describe how Winston is an anti-hero: Enter Text Here Student Name: Chytazia 1984 Study Guide The Setting George Orwell utilizes the settings of 1984 to reinforce the stark, aloneness that the characters in the novel feel. For each location, provide a specific quote from the novel, then explain what Orwell is trying to convey through the setting. Location Quote Describing the Location What Orwell is Trying to Convey Enter Text Here Enter Text Here 2. Winston’s office Enter Text Here Enter Text Here 3. The room that Winston rents from Mr. Charrington Enter Text Here Enter Text Here 4. O’Brien’s home Enter Text Here Enter Text Here 5. Ministry of Love Enter Text Here Enter Text Here 1. Winston’s apartment at Victory Mansions Select one of the above locations to describe in more detail: Enter Text Here Student Name: Chytazia 1984 Study Guide Tracking Themes What message is George Orwell trying to communicate in 1984? The main themes in the novel involve totalitarianism, mind control, and psychological manipulation. See if you can identify and analyze those themes. Step 1: What parts of the plot seem related to a possible theme in the novel? (Think about the main conflict and how it gets resolved or worked out.) Enter Text Here Step 2: Which characters seem related to a possible theme? Which characters change, and what do those changes suggest about people, power, or life? Enter Text Here Step 3: How does the author use symbols to hint at the novel’s themes? What objects, people, or places stand for something “bigger” in the story? Enter Text Here Step 4: What does the novel’s title suggest about the novel’s theme? Enter Text Here Step 5: Write one or two of the novel’s main themes in your own words. Enter Text Here Student Name: Chytazia 1984 Study Guide Talk About It What do you think about 1984? Could you identify with Winston as he tried to evade and later succumbed to Big Brother? How did you feel as you read 1984? In the space below each question, write an answer based on your own experiences and your own understanding of the novel. Include some textual evidence or examples that helped you arrive at your answer. 1. At the beginning of the novel, Winston feels vaguely unsettled by Big Brother, but continues to do as he is expected until falling in love with Julia. After being arrested, Winston disavows their relationship and falls under the spell of Big Brother. These actions make Winston an antihero with numerous unattractive qualities. How do you think the novel would differ if Winston was more of a classic hero? Enter Text Here Textual Evidence or Examples: Enter Text Here 2. Throughout the novel, Orwell creates a tone of ominous uncertainty while still drawing the reader. At the same time, the reader feels unsettled and unnerved by the events in the book. Provide examples of how Orwell creates the tone and mood of the novel. Enter Text Here Textual Evidence or Examples: Enter Text Here Student Name: Chytazia 1984 Study Guide Represent! Show what you know about 1984 and its relevance to life in the 21st century. Choose one of these projects to complete and share with your teacher, classmates, and others. Choice 1: Big Brother is Watching You George Orwell’s 1984 spawned numerous references and cultural allusions from the words Big Brother to using the numbers 1984 to refer to a controlling, totalitarian government. Create a visual display using PowerPoint, Prezi, Glogster, or any web tool of your choosing to depict allusions to the novel. Be sure to include the portion and lines of 1984 that each allusion references, as well as its literary or modern-day allusion. Challenge yourself to find at least 10, if not more, allusions spread across literature, political speeches, movies, music, and advertising. Choice 2: Dystopian Literature 1984 is classified as a dystopian novel, a novel whose society features a controlling government bent on corruption, terror, and mind control. Think of other films, plays, short stories, or novels that fall under the dystopian genre. Create an art project that illustrates some of these films and literatures—and their settings, plots, and characters. In your visual display, include representations and objects that illustrate each work. Be prepared to explain why you selected each dystopian work, as well as what characteristics of it make it dystopian. Student Name: Chy'Tazia A Tale of Two Cities Study Guide The Guillotine Did you know that the guillotine was invented during and used as a symbol of the French Revolution? At one point during the revolution, watching people being decapitated by the instrument was viewed as a type of public entertainment. Women would even bring their knitting to the public square while spending the day watching people being guillotined. Be a Better Reader As you work through the study guide for A Tale of Two Cities, you will also practice these skills, which will help you when you read novels in the future, for school assignments or just for fun. 1. Describe the development of the main character. 2. Discuss how the plot develops throughout the novel. 3. Describe themes in the novel and trace their development throughout the text. 4. Cite textual evidence to support discussion of the novel. 5. Describe and analyze the role of setting in the novel. Behind the Scenes The French Revolution spanned the years 1789 – 1799 and was characterized by the overthrow of the French monarchy and aristocrats by the workers. Spawned by the common man’s frustration with the monarchy’s lavish spending while the average person lived poorly and paid exorbitant taxes, the revolution began with the storming of the Bastille, a prison, in 1789. The revolution took a radical turn in 1793 and 1794 when Robespierre began his Reign of Terror that led to the execution of 16,000 to 40,000 people. The French Revolution ended when Napoleon Bonaparte rose to power in 1799. Get This! 1. A Tale of Two Cities possesses numerous symbols. Be sure to notice and try to figure out the symbolism of the broken wine cask, Madame Defarge’s knitting, and the Marquis. 2. Dickens uses the technique of doubles throughout much of the novel. Notice how the author uses doubles and what he achieves by doing so. Student Name: Chy'Tazia A Tale of Two Cities Study Guide The Plot Dickens’ novel focuses on the lives of the Manette and Darnay friends and family as they play out against the backdrop of the French Revolution. As you read A Tale of Two Cities, fill in the boxes for each element of the novel’s plot. Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Student Name: Chy'Tazia A Tale of Two Cities Study Guide The Characters Charles Dickens uses a wide array of characters to tell is story set amid the French Revolution Draw a picture of each character, and then describe the importance of each character’s role in the box beneath each picture. Doctor Manette Sydney Carton Lucie Manette Jarvis Lorry Charles Darnay Defarge family Student Name: Chy'Tazia A Tale of Two Cities Study Guide The Setting In A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens accurately sets his story amongst the events leading up to and during the French Revolution of the late 1780s and early 1790s. Use the spaces below to describe the French Revolution-specific settings in the novel. In the first column, type or write direct quotes from the novel—phrases and sentences that are used to show what it’s like throughout the story. In the second column, explain what Dickens is trying to convey in the passage. An example has been completed for you. Direct Quote Related to Setting Your Explanation “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times . . . that things in general were settled for ever.” (Book 1, Ch. 1) This passage sets up the contrasts evident in Europe at the time and establishes that France is run by a monarchy. Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Enter Text Here Student Name: Chy'Tazia A Tale of Two Cities Study Guide Tracking Themes What message is Charles Dickens trying to communicate in A Tale of Two Cities? The main themes in the novel involve the possibility of change, self-sacrifice, and revolutionary violence and oppression. See if you can identify and analyze those themes. Step 1: What parts of the plot seem related to a possible theme in the novel? (Think about the main conflict and how it get resolved or worked out.) Enter Text Here Step 2: Which characters seem related to a possible theme? Which characters change, and what do those changes suggest about the possibility of change, self-sacrifice, and revolutionary violence and oppression? Enter Text Here Step 3: How does the author use symbols to hint at the novel’s themes? What objects, people, or places stand for something “bigger” in the story? Enter Text Here Step 4: What does the novel’s title suggest about the novel’s theme? Enter Text Here Step 5: Write one or two of the novel’s main themes in your own words. Enter Text Here Student Name: Chy'Tazia A Tale of Two Cities Study Guide What do you think about A Tale of Two Cities? How did you feel about Sydney Carton? What did you notice about how Dickens used the motif of doubles in the novel? In the space below each question, write an answer based on your own experiences and your own understanding of the novel. Include some textual evidence or examples that helped you arrive at your answer. 1. A Tale of Two Cities introduces a rather interesting character in Sydney Carton. How does Carton by his life and his actions embody the ideas of resurrection and redemption that run throughout the novel? Enter Text Here Textual Evidence or Examples: Enter Text Here 2. Dickens uses the technique of doubles throughout much of A Tale of Two Cities. Provide some examples of how the author uses doubles and what he achieves by doing so. Enter Text Here Textual Evidence or Examples: Enter Text Here Student Name: Chy'Tazia A Tale of Two Cities Study Guide Represent! Show what you know about A Tale of Two Cities and its relevance to your life. Choose one of these projects to complete and share with your teacher, classmates, and others. Choice 1: History of the French Revolution Charles Dickens’ goes to great lengths to accurately set A Tale of Two Cities amidst the French Revolution. While doing so, he integrates the tenor of the times with historical details. Create a Powerpoint presentation or use another web presentation tool to discuss the events leading up to the French Revolution, as well as the key events of and main historical figures of the revolution. Choice 2: Be a Character When creating his novel, Dickens integrated many interesting and thought-provoking characters. Select one of the following characters to further explore: Doctor Manette, Lucie Manette, Charley Darney, Sydney Carton, Ernest Defarge, or Madame Defarge. Create and perform a monologue as that character to further explore the character, his/her motivations, and his/her feelings about the events of the novel. Be sure to write your monologue in the form of a play.