"Everyone believes

in his youth

that the world

really began with him,

and that all merely exists

for his sake."

~ Goethe ~

 

List of Utopian/Dystopian
Literature:

Objectives: There are five learning objectives, in accordance with state and national standards, specifically associated with this unit: Students will (a) comprehend literal meaning, which they will prove by making maps of the setting as described in the text, (b) learn new vocabulary and key terms from across the curriculum, (c) establish the historical, socio-political and philosophical contexts in which the text was written, (d) appreciate style, symbol, and theme as artistic ways to communicate ideas with words, and (e) compare the text to other works of dystopian literature.

Keywords: 1938, allusion, atone, avert, Ayn Rand, barren, brigades, Collectivism, Communism, covet, creed, deigned, depraved, dystopian, dystopian literature, edict, endeavor, Eugenics, first-person plural, Gaia, hearth, illustrious, impotent, individual versus society, Individualism, infamy, Joseph Stalin, lassitude, moat, novelette, Objective Realism, perish, plunder, Prometheus, pyre, reprimand, reverence, Russian Revolution, scornful, Socialism, Soviet Union, style, symbolism, tarried, taut, theme, transgression, tunic, vice, vindicate, virtue, vocation, wretch

Georgia Professional Standards: ELAWLRL1a, ELAWRL1b, ELAWRL1c, ELAWRL1d, ELAWRL1e, ELAWRL1f, ELAWLRL2a, ELAWRL1b, ELAWRL1c, ELAWRL1d, ELAWLRL3, ELAWLRL4a, ELAWLRL5a, ELAWLRL5b, ELAWLRL5c, ELAWLRL5d, ELAWLRC2, ELAWLRC3, ELAWLRC4

1.	Set up the classroom to mimic the setting of Anthem. Temporarily remove all books, strip the walls of all decoration, and light the rooms only with candles.  Act like this is serious.  Don’t immediately give away you’re setting up for a pre-reading activity or students may lose interest.
2.	Replace old rules with “Transgressions.”  Make a list of transgressions adapted from the book and post them in a list on the wall. Explain that a transgression is a crime, and the punishment for crimes is prison or death. Examples of transgressions are disagreeing with anyone, singing for no reason, and liking one person or thing better than another.  You can speak only in first-person plural.
3.	Give each student a new identity.  Give each student a new name like Equality, International, Fraternity, and those of other characters in Anthem.  Give them each a white tunic and tell them it is the only thing they are allowed to wear from now on.   Explain they have now reached working age and assign each male an occupation from the book; tell the women they must work in the fields.  Remind the students it is a transgression to go against what the government says, and that the crime is prison or death.
4.	Ask, “What if this were real?”  End the charade and have students reflect on what life would be like in such a society.
5.	Establish connection between students and text.   Tell the students that the way things just were in the classroom is how life really is for the characters in Anthem.   The main character, like each of them, is not happy.
6.	Distribute text.  Procure a free classroom set of Anthem from the Ayn Rand Institute.  Give each student a copy of the text, which is his or hers to keep forever.  Hopefully, empathizing with the protagonist and taking ownership of the book itself will increase the students’ interest in actually reading it.  A writing exercise may go along with this step.
7.	Overview the plot.  Briefly summarize the setting and plot in terms of a the novel’s central conflict—that being the individual versus society.
8.	Read Chapter 1.  As a class, read the first chapter.  Read the first couple of paragraphs to the students to establish tone, and then go around the room so that each student has to read some of the text out loud.
9.	Check for understanding.  After reading the first chapter, ask the students several questions to test literal comprehension of the text, as it lets you know how ready they are for higher knowledge.
10.	Debrief.  A few minutes before the end of class, summarize today’s lesson and preview upcoming lessons.  Refer to the learning objectives previously mentioned.

#1: The teacher demonstrates knowledge of the growth characteristics of children. I chose to teach Anthem because of its themes of egocentricity and rebellion, two common growth characteristics of adolescents.  Because I knew about the growth characteristics of children, I knew that my students would relate to the protagonist and thus become intrinsically motivated to read the text.