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What is Dystopian Literature?

Merriam Webster defines dystopia as an "imaginary place where people lead dehumanized and often fearful lives" (www.m-w.com). Dystopian Literature often deals with people living in societies that are under extreme government control or the converse: anarchy.

In Post-Apocalyptic Dystopian Literature, the characters act within a world that has been destroyed by an apocalyptic event. This event can be in the distant past (e.g., The Hunger Games) or recent as in The Road or I Am Legend and has altered the environment drastically. Typically, the post-apocalyptic sub-genre of dystopian literature is so closely aligned with the more traditional dystopian world that they are often juxtaposed.

Dystopian and Utopian Literature featuring Cormac McCarthy's The Road
Essential Questions:
How do a father and son survive in a world that no longer exists?

How does one avoid becoming evil when evil is all that is left?

Where do you find hope when all hope is lost?

The Road Reading Schedule

Part One: pages 1-69 complete before class on Thurs 1/16
Part Two: pages 70-144 complete before 1/23 Midterm
Part Three: pages 145-221 before class on Thurs 1/30
Part Four: pages 222- end before class on Thurs 2/6

Dialectical Journal Entries: 1 per Section (see Section Listing below)

As you read Cormac McCarthy's The Road, keep a Dialectical Journal (handwritten in a college ruled composition book or other notebook) and please add annotations for the following:
   -Mention of "Carrying the Fire." Why make this reference? Each time the phrase appears, stop and consider WHY the writer has returned to this concept. In several sentences, write your thoughts on the matter.
   -The rhetorical purpose of character interactions: People met along the road. What is the point/purpose that McCarthy has for these episodes?
   -Faith: How does God (or religion) factor into the novel? Look for religious or Biblical allusions or references. How do the characters struggle with the fact that nature (and humanity) has seemingly been laid to waste? Is God present in the novel? Is there evidence of a divine force at play? Or, is this a Godless world
   -Symbolism. Identify objects that seem to have meaning(s) beyond what they actually are.
   -What happened? What brought this world into existence? Identify all lines that hint at what transpired. What does the writer want you to know? What does he NOT tell you that you wish to know?

Additional items to annotate:
   -Imagery of setting: Mark passages that best establish the visual appearance and mood of this post-apocalyptic world.
   -Imagery in dreams: Mark each page containing a dream. What seems to be the purpose of the dream? Why does the author present it? Dreams are often the source of symbolic object.
   -Manipulation of speaker and point of view. Who has a voice? Who doesn't? How is this significant to the novel's meaning?
   -Why did they stay on the road? Why is the novel called "The Road"?
   -Women in the novel: How are they presented? (Critics have questioned McCarthy's use of females throughout his writings. What do you think?) 

You may also use the Motif Bookmark distributed in class for inspiration.

A Note about Dialectical Journals:
Dialectical Journals will be scored for their depth and breadth (in other words, what do you think is worthy of an “A” or a “B” or a “C” or a “D” and so on?) Please note, last minute entries and shoddily maintained journals are more easily recognizable than you may realize. I am expecting AP worthy responses! ​

​Section Listing (1 entry per section: 50-100 word average per response)
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Section 1: pps. 3-7
Section 2: pps. 8-17
Section 3: pps. 18-33
Section 4: pps. 34-48
Section 5: pps. 49-60 (middle of page "[...] they slept in the leaves with their packs under their heads.")
Section 6: pps. 60-79
Section 7: pps. 80-89
Section 8: pps. 90-105 (middle of page "But I think it's okay.")
Section 9: pps. 105-113
Section 10: pps. 114-130
Section 11: pps. 131-144
Section 12: pps. 145-156 (middle of the page "[...] the road fall away before them.")
Section 13: pps. 156-167
Section 14: pps. 168-180 (middle of the page "Yes. Of course we can.")
Section 15: pps. 180-195 (middle of the page [...]vanished one by one into the waiting darkness.")
Section 16: pps. 195-204
Section 17: pps. 205-213 (middle of page "Yes we did.")
Section 18: pps. 213-223 (middle of page "Then he trudged out splashing and dove headlong.")
Section 19: pps. 223-240 (middle of page "He fitted the pistol back in the case and closed and latched the lid.")
Section 20: pps. 240-253 (middle of page "Hurry.")
Section 21: pps. 253-287 

Paired Readings

Poems:
Eliot - "The Wasteland"
Macleish- "The  End of the World"
Dickinson- ""Safe in their alabaster chambers"
Byron- "Darkness"
Frost- "Acquianted with the Night"
Jarrell- "The State"
Auden- "September 1, 1939"
Short Stories:
Walter Van Tiburg Clark- "The Portable Phonograph"
Benet- "By the Waters of Babylon"
Novels:
Huxley- Brave New World
Orwell- 1984
Atwood- Oryx and Crake and The Handmaid's Tale

Agenda
Mon 1-6-2020
     -Three Kings' Day
     -No School
Tues 1-7-2020
     -Gallery Walk
     -"After the Masters: Poetry of Identity"
Wed 1-8-2020
     -Slow Reading of 1st paragraph
     -Book Sign out
     -Semester Reboot (Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri)
​     -HW: Begin reading The Road in preparation for discussion tomorrow.
Thurs 1-9-2020
​     -Dialectical Journaling (1 per section)
     -Discussion Thursday
     -HW: Prepare for tomorrow's Independent Reading Activity.
Fri 1-10-2020
     -Independent Reading Activity (3 page at home essay, in class timed essay, Mindmap)
*****
Mon 1-13-2020
     -Multiple Choice Monday (2 passages)
            -timed
            -random groupings
     -HW: Justifications due on Tuesday at start of class.
Tues 1-14-2020
     -Poetry Tuesday
     -MacLeish "The End of the World"
     -TSP-FASTT ?
Wed 1-15-2020
     -Writing Wednesday
     -In Class Timed Essay (Prose Passage Essay)
Thurs 1-16-2020
     -Discussion Thursday
           -Timed Essay
​          -Events in Part I of The Road
Fri 1-17-2020
     -Check DJs for completion
     -Blogging Friday (classroom website)
          -Primary Blog Entry due by 11:59pm on Friday
          -2 Secondary Blog Entries due by 11:59pm on Sun.
     -HW: Prepare for Harkness Discussion on 1-23-2020
          -prepare 3-5 HOT questions and textual references for Thursday's discussion
          -Harkness Discussion Focus: Plot
How does this spare, seemingly impossible, post-apocalyptic dystopian novel inform your view of the world in which we live today?
(Some supporting materials will be supplied to you today-links can be found to these documents at the bottom right of this page.)
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MIDTERM EXAMS
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The Road Media Resources
Click on the videos or photos to view resource.

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Click on the image to go to the Google Lit Trip based upon The Road.
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Cormac McCarthy- The Oprah Interview
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Cormac McCarthy talks about passages from The Road
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Cormac McCarthy discusses dreams and the subconscious
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Cormac McCarthy on the writing process

Joseph Campbell and the Monomyth

-Monomyth-- also known as "the hero's journey" describes a basic pattern of stages and structures found in narratives from all different times and cultures. This pattern was identified and detailed in Joseph Campbell's book, The Hero With a Thousand Faces.

-Archetype--a universally understood symbol or term or pattern of behavior; a prototype; a generic version of a personality; a personality type. Examples are a mother-figure, a damsel in distress, a wise man or sage, a trickster or villain, a sidekick. In short, these are not distinct personailites or identities, but are stereotypical representations of a kind of person. There can also be archetypal objects, settings, colors, symbols and themes.
​
-Myth-- a (sacred) story told by a culture to illustrate a truth about life or humanity. A myth is a tangible package in which is wrapped what its culture holds as an abstract truth.

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Click here for "Morality" podcast on Radiolab

Documents

ckrwilliams-the_road_dialectical_journal_entries.pdf
File Size: 104 kb
File Type: pdf
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ckrwilliams-the_road_dialectical_journal_bookmark.pdf
File Size: 174 kb
File Type: pdf
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radiolab_morality_challenge_essay.pdf
File Size: 126 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Summative Assessment 
"Get an Early Start" Directions:
Students who wish to get an early start on the Summative Assessment should read the Boeree Article (posted below), review notes from the powerpoint on Maslow's Hierarchy, and review the Summative Assessment Guidelines (posted below and you have a copy distributed at the beginning of the quarter). Your goal is to find specific plot points from The Road and place them on Maslow's Hierarchy. You are discussing the journey the father and the son make towards the coast AND up and down Maslow's Hierarchy. Your paper will answer your belief as to whether the father and/or the son ever reach Self-Actualization.

cg_boeree-abraham_maslow-personality_theories-adaptation.pdf
File Size: 58 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
ck_williams-the_road-maslow_summative_assessment_overview2013-14.pdf
File Size: 36 kb
File Type: pdf
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poetry_explication_assignment.pdf
File Size: 47 kb
File Type: pdf
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tp-castt.pdf
File Size: 10 kb
File Type: pdf
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book_jacket_project_0809.doc
File Size: 67 kb
File Type: doc
Download File