11th Grade Honors Summer Assignment

Annotation Guide: Please note that this is a general guide that can be adapted to suit your own needs or the specific text that you are reading. You should start with the suggestions on this guide, then you can adapt your annotation style as you see fit.  Please annotate each chapter.

1. Annotating a text: Annotation refers to marking up your text by physically writing on it, using sticky notes or other markers, and/or taking notes as you read. Annotation is a key skill to learn as you develop into a sophisticated critical reader, writer, and thinker; it is also an important skill that will help you succeed in college classes. The purpose of annotation is to keep a record of your thoughts and questions as you read. This is especially useful to you as you complete your summer reading, as you will read the novel outside of class and will need to retain your knowledge of the text into the first quarter of the academic year. The following is a suggested annotation guide for each method listed above.   

a. Marking up the text: This is the recommended method for annotating. If you use this method, you will physically write in and on your book as you read. Differentiate your annotations as follows: 

1. Underline key lines and/or passages. An alternative annotation would be to place a star in the margin next to key lines/passages. The purpose of underlining or marking key passages with a star is to help you remember where to find the most significant portions of the text. Passages may be significant because they highlight key plot events, point out important qualities of the main characters, or emphasize central themes or motifs of the work, which are essential to analyzing the text’s meaning. In addition to underlining or marking with a star, it is best to record your thoughts in the margins or in a separate journal so you can remember what you thought was important about the passages.  

2. Write a question mark in the margin next to passages or lines that you find confusing or that you have questions about. It is best to write out your question in the margins or in a separate journal so that you can remember what confused you about the passage.  

3. Circle unknown words; look up the new words as you read so that you can both better understand the text and build your vocabulary. Write the definition in your book or in a separate journal. Even if you are slightly unsure of a word’s meaning, it’s a good idea to look up the word to clarify the meaning.  

4.  Develop a system of annotations specifically related to your text to help you keep track of specific issues/characters/themes as you read. For example, if the protagonist is named Joe, you might write a “J” next to the passages in the text that describe his character or tell us something important about his character.

5. To reiterate point 1, make sure that you go beyond simply highlighting or underlining; you want to be able to remember WHY you marked these lines when you go back into the text to write your essay or participate in class discussions and activities. Please note that when I give you grades for annotating a text, those that only underline/highlight without making additional notes will earn only partial credit.    

Sticky note annotation: If you prefer not to write on your text or you are using a borrowed copy of a text, you may wish to use a set of sticky notes to annotate your text. For example, you might use the Post-It brand flags (usually four or five different colors). You can decide what color to assign to each detail you want to annotate. You can also write very small, short notes on these skinny sticky note flags, or you may use bigger sticky notes that have more room for your writing. See the more detailed instructions for annotations above.  

1. Place a blue sticky note next to key passages.  

2. Place an orange sticky note and write a question mark on the notes when you come across a passage that is confusing or about which you have questions. You could also write more detailed versions of your questions in a separate journal. Again, it’s very important that you record your thoughts and ideas so you can remember why you are noting these lines or passages.  

3. Place a yellow sticky note near unknown or unfamiliar words. Write the definition on the sticky note or in a separate journal.  

4. Use the remaining colors to annotate other details about the text (characters, themes, etc.). You might want to assign a different color to each theme or character, or you may want to use the same color but write a short annotation  \ 

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, published in 1932 Genre: dystopian social science fiction  Aldous Huxley's profoundly important classic of world literature, Brave New World is a searching vision of an unequal, technologically-advanced future where humans are genetically bred, socially indoctrinated, and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively uphold an authoritarian ruling order–all at the cost of our freedom, full humanity, and perhaps also our souls. “A genius [who] who spent his life decrying the onward march of the Machine” (The New Yorker), Huxley was a man of incomparable talents: equally an artist, a spiritual seeker, and one of history’s keenest observers of human nature and civilization. Brave New World, his masterpiece, has enthralled and terrified millions of readers, and retains its urgent relevance to this day as both a warning to be heeded as we head into tomorrow and as thought-provoking, satisfying work of literature. Written in the shadow of the rise of fascism during the 1930s, Brave New World likewise speaks to a 21st-century world dominated by mass-entertainment, technology, medicine and pharmaceuticals, the arts of persuasion, and hidden influences.  

SOCRATIC SEMINAR QUESTIONS: BRAVE NEW WORLD

 You must answer all of the questions prior to the Socratic Seminar, or you will not be able to participate.  You will work on an alternative assignment in lieu of the socratic seminar.  Base your responses on the text, your opinions, observations, experiences, and other readings.  

Your answers should include textual evidence and information from outside sources (such as your opinions, observations, experiences, and other readings) either quoted, paraphrased, or summarized.  All answers should be written in paragraph style.

nswer each question with a minimum of one quote per answer (either from Brave New World or outside sources). Cite the text using the author-page style format: (Huxley 85). ***No quote, no credit. ***

There are no yes or no answers to these questions. All answers need to be answered FULLY and supported with textual evidence!

1. Of all the methods and devices the World State uses to control its citizens, which do you find the most morally objectionable? Or do you? Either way, explain.

2. Why do the World Controllers include sex at all as a part of daily life? Why not just eliminate everyone's sex drives altogether?

3. Go back and look at page 258 in Chapter 18. As the people who have come to lighthouse are worked into an increasing frenzy over “the Savage’s” behavior, John begins to whip himself while shouting “Kill it, kill it!” What do you think John is referring to when he says this? Explain why.

4. When Lenina comes to see John at the lighthouse, she is described as follows:  “Her blue eyes seemed to grow larger, brighter; and suddenly two tears rolled down her cheeks. Inaudibly, she spoke again; then, with a quick, impassioned gesture stretched out her arms towards the Savage, stepped forward” (257). This is clearly a different Lenina than the one initially introduced to the reader. So, what changed? What do you believe is behind Lenina’s show of emotion?

5. Soma is the World State's most powerful tool to subdue and control its citizens. Do you think the World State (or something like it) could ever exist without soma? Explain.

6. After Chapter 11, the narrator never again refers to John by his name, instead only calling him “the Savage.” Why do you think Huxley does this? Is there some significance to this choice?

7. Though Huxley’s imagined World State seems less human in the way we are accustomed to living, explain the positive aspects of his society. What aspects would you particularly like and why?

8. Everyone makes a big deal out of the fact that soma doesn't have any nasty after-effects of say, alcohol (hangovers, guilt, shame, pregnancy). If this is true, why do we find its use morally wrong? Actually, do you find it morally wrong? Why or why not?

9. What is the difference between natural instinct and the "instinctual" feelings that the citizens of the World State have been conditioned to feel? Is there a difference at all?

10.  Is Mustapha Mond right when he insists that a society of all Alphas would fail? What did you think of the "Cyprus experiment" discussed in Chapter 16? Why do you agree or disagree with Mond’s assertion?

11.  Based on what we read, don’t Alphas seem to be the least satisfied of all the citizens in the World State? If Epsilons really are happy with their lives, then what's wrong (morally) with making them that way? Anything? Nothing? Why?

12.  If you were forced to choose, which character in the novel would you be and why?

13.  Different characters in the novel fight power in different ways. Bernard at first tries defiance; Helmholtz turns to subversive writing; and John leaves to live in solitude at the lighthouse. Are any of these effective? What do you believe would be the best way to fight the system in this novel?

14.  Could anything like Brave New World really happen? Has it happened in some form that we don't fully recognize? Explain.

15.  Does the novel have any loose ends it fails to tie up? If so, does that seem intentional by Huxley, and what effect does it have?

16.  So, Mustapha Mond, Resident World Controller of Western Europe, is a pretty powerful guy in this book. Or is he? Who do you judge to be the most powerful character in Brave New World? Why?

17.  Whether you agree with him or not, John possesses a pretty rigid system of morality (right and wrong). Do you think John learned morality from the Indians on the Reservation, from Linda, from Shakespeare, or from another source? Is John's system of morality religious in nature?

18.  Is the ending to Brave New World at all optimistic? For any of the characters?

benjamin.rawlins@henry.k12.ga.us