UTOPIA / DYSTOPIA

SOCIETY - 3u, 2024-2025

Tuesday, August 13: Define your own Utopia..

UTOPIA CHALLENGE

• find your group (we will let Lectio decide)
• group discussions
• prepare presentation (7-10 min)

100 min. challenge → present your Utopian society.

Key terms of the day: utopia, dystopia, ideal, conform, dissent.

Expectations? See slide no. 3

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UTOPIA GAME - in groups of four students, please do the following:

Discuss what the idea of Utopia means to you.

• Together you have to create your Utopia.

• Society: How is it governed? How is society structured?

• What are the most important principles on your land? (norms/laws)

• Population: How do people live?

• What about education/work?

• What makes your utopian society the perfect place to live?

• Find a name for your utopia, which reflects its ethos.

Make a presentation (Power Point / Google Slides) in which you present your Utopian Society

(7-10 min.).

Be creative (music, pictures, slogan...)

Good luck :)

Vocabulary inspiration: Quizlet terms

GROUPS - we will let Lectio decide

• Silas, Nikita, Cecilie, Asta, Valdemar
• Hans Christian, Gustav, Tristan, Theodor
• Malou, Victoria, Andrea, Ida B
• Laura, Viggo, Ida R, Sean
• Simon, Nicolai, Snorre, William

Tuesday, August 20: Preparation and presentations

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1. Group work - your Utopia? 40 min.

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• Presentations / The devil’s advocates will ask clarifying questions.

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Tuesday, August 27

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Presentations / personal reflections / Berlin prep.

1. Final group presentations

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• ‘Utopia to me is…’ Reflections so far - the main elements in your personal utopian society? Brainstorm / first draft.
• Berlin preparation

Written assignment for September 19

'Utopia to me is...'

Please continue the above sentence, and write a coherent, fluent, and descriptive text of 300-400 words.

1. Include a varied and thematic vocabulary (see word list in our collection of texts - choose at least five from the list and highlight them in your text), and focus on grammatical accuracy when it comes to proper adjectives and subject-verb agreement.

2. Your text must start from the ideas that you and your group presented for class, as well as you must comment on at least one other group's ideas.

Amalie will comment on your paper focusing on the above aspects.

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Berlin prepping

• Read the two articles linked to our Berlin walkathon task.
• Search for arguments regarding the debate on tearing down historical monuments both in the US and in the UK.
• What is the European Union’s view on preserving a collective memory of the past?
• Different aspects of remembrance policies. Simon Spies’ Square in Elsinore, as an example.

The historical walkathon

Preserving Europe’s collective memory for a brighter future

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Tuesday, September 10: Dystopian Literary Theory

1. What is your favourite theoretical term and why? Please also explain the meaning of the word.
2. Dystopian Literature mind-map production in pairs/groups of three (35 min.)
3. Jonathan Swift - writers’ gallery: Introduction to ‘satire’ + ‘A Modest Proposal’

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September 16

‘A Modest Proposal’, J. Swift (1729)

1. Famous author, Jonathan Swift (1667 - 1745).
2. The essay ‘A Modest Proposal’ (1729)
1. audiobook/extract (min.00:00-09:17 + 24:04-26:00)
3. ‘A Modest Proposal’
• Worksheet: questions and reflections

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Jonathan Swift - what can we tell about him?

• Swift’s aim was to ‘expose absurdities’ and not to ‘provide remedies’
• Ireland → England → Ireland
• Esther (Stella) and Vanessa → love
• Compassionate about bettering the conditions for poor people especially in Ireland.
• Charity (⅓ of his income)
• Satirical tone (ridicules/criticizes through humour)
• Pseudonyms → mocked the English government/monarchy
• Misanthrope? NO. Just the opposite.
• Nationalistic. Dissatisfied with/outraged by the way England treated Ireland (suppression)
• 1667-1745
• Actively involved in politics!

Study questions for ’A Modest Proposal’

– an essay by Jonathan Swift (1729)

1. In three lines, what is ‘A Modest Proposal’ about?

2. Please comment on the writing style/tone in the essay.

3. Which rhetorical devices are present? Why are they used (quality)?

4. Why do you think ‘A Modest Proposal’ was written? And why does Swift make use of satire?

5. Comment on the ending.

6. Anything that makes the essay difficult to read and understand?

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When asked about Jonathan Swift at the oral exam, what would you say?

Fast-writing for six minutes. Copy/paste the text proofread and make it academic.

September 17 + September 24

Dystopian Literature / ‘Lord of the Flies’ by William Golding

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1. Dystopian literature - history, characteristics, appeal? → keywords on the blackboard (homework).
2. ‘Lord of the Flies’ (1954), by William Golding (1911 - 1993)
1. Golding: A dark view on human nature due to severe war experiences during WW2
2. ‘Lord of the Flies’ is an allegorical novel. Allegory = a story that uses concrete ideas/situations as symbols for a deeper or layered meaning. Stories containing a moral or hidden meaning.
3. Watch video (4 min.) Crash Course 'Lord of the Flies'
4. Read the extract. ‘You Should Have Seen the Blood’.
1. Symbolic meaning of
1. Ralph / Jack / Piggy and his glasses
2. The conch shell
3. The island
4. The evil monster
2. Golding’s message

GRAMMAR: ‘Lord of the Flies’. Extract: ‘You Should Have Seen the Blood!’

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Adjectives (adjektiver/tillægsord)

1. Add suitable adjectives to each character whenever you meet a name (proper noun/egenavn) in lines 66-77, p. 4. From ‘This from Piggy…’ to ‘…awful wings.’

Find inspiration on p. 316, Toolbox Fiction.

2. Explain the use of adjectives in general.

Subject-verb disagreement (kongruens) + verb tense (udsagnsordenes tid)

1. Watch the introductory video for ‘kongruens’ on minlaering.dk (bøger)

2. Watch the introductory video for ‘verber’ on minlaering.dk (bøger)

3. Rewrite into present tense lines 72-86, p. 4. From ‘Ralph made…’ to ‘Jus’ you wait-yah!’

4. Highlight all irregular verbs from the passage and note their conjugation (bøjning)

5. Explain the rule of subject-verb disagreement.

Genitive + contractions (genitiv/ejefald + sammentrækninger)

1. Explain the use of apostrophe in the following two examples

a. Piggy’s (l. 72, p. 4)

b. Side’s (l. 78, p. 4)

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September 24 + September 30

‘1984’ by George Orwell (1948)

George Orwell (1903-1950)

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• Born in India (British parents)
• Sent to boarding school in England → G.O. was horrified of the harsh, senseless rules = developed a sense of rejection of ‘every form of man’s dominion over man’.
• Inspired by intense social and political passion.
• Through his writing he exposed the negative effects that political systems can have on people’s lives.

‘Big Brother Is Watching You’ and ‘How Many Fingers, Winston?’

1. Lead-in tasks for both extracts (groups/class discussion)
2. Which dystopian traits are evident in ‘1984’? Compare to relevant class material + use as many technical terms as possible.
1. Read ‘Big Brother is Watching You’ (HOMEWORK) + discuss analysis questions p. 65 in pairs, 1-4 + 7 (this we will do in class).
2. Read ‘How Many Fingers, Winston?’ p. 67, 1-4.
1. See mind maps for inspiration
2. Characteristics of dystopian literature?

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• Homework for October 1: YA Dystopian Literature / The Hunger Games → see slide 22, task 1.

October 1

YA Dystopian Literature / ‘The Hunger Games’

1. Young Adult Dystopian Literature - sum up the main aspects on the blackboard (pairs / on class)
1. Young protagonist, Cautionary tale, Main purpose, False Utopian Novel, Post-apocalyptic novel, Y.A. Dystopian Themes, Critique of the genre.
2. Start watching ‘The Hunger Games’ (2008)
• Focus on Y.A. dystopian traits.
• Focus on how the film can be defined as a piece of Y.A. Dystopian Literature

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October 22 - ‘The Hunger Games’ / ‘The Giver’

1. Discuss the analysis of ‘The Hunger Games’ in pairs / on class
1. Young protagonist, Cautionary tale, Main purpose, False Utopian Novel, Post-apocalyptic novel, Y.A. Dystopian Themes, Critique of the genre.
2. ‘The Giver’ (1993), by Louis Lowry
• Please make a close reading of the excerpt on pp. 157-158 THREE times.
• Write down keywords for the four questions on p. 3.

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Tuesday, October 22 - ‘The Giver’

Watch ‘The Giver’

Feel free to bring coffee and breakfast :)

Tuesday, October 22: ‘The Giver’ (1993) vs. ‘The Hunger Games’ (2008)

1. Genre traits to be considered in ‘The Hunger Games’ and ‘The Giver’:

Young protagonist

Cautionary tale

Main purpose

False Utopian Novel >< Post-Apocalyptic Novel

Y.A. Dystopian Themes

Critique of the genre

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B. Which of the two films serves its purpose best?

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Discuss in pairs and argue for your case → claims / grounds

C. Which aspects from the two YA dystopian films are worth considering in regard to our present day society - locally, domestically as well as internationally?

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Explain and give concrete examples.

Also, identify characteristics of dystopian societies.

1. Feedback ‘Utopia to me is..’
2. Introduction to the coming written assignment → check it out here.
1. Brainstorm / blackboard
2. Peer work
3. Getting started (individually) → structure, points, transition, terms, quotes.