This unit explores George Orwell's dark, complex, and controversial novel 1984. The novel is full of big ideas and themes: totalitarian rule, surveillance technology, mind control, propaganda, the role of the individual versus the collective, the relation of language to thought, and even the nature of reality and perception. This unit is designed to help students go beyond the simple plot line and engage with some of the larger philosophical ideas and themes, in part by carefully reading sections of the novel that are often omitted: the chapters from the fictitious book by Emmanuel Goldstein, The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism, and the appendix, "The Principles of Newspeak." The culminating writing assignment offers a choice of four prompts, each of which explores one of the themes of the novel. Students are asked to use material form their notes and annotations of the novel to support their position on the issue of the prompt.
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Unit ObjectivesStudents will be able to:
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