CONTEXT TO CONTENT:
We read this novel during our Philosophy: Life On Earth project. After reading and annotating the book, we had a seminar around some essential questions: - What is the connection between Nao, Jiko, and Ruth? Are they all aspects of the same person through time? Who is the story really about? - Did the pages at the end of Nao’s diary truly disappear or was that just Ruth’s experience? - How did Haruki’s French diary come to be in the box? And what is the importance of this? Jiko? Ruth in her dream? - What is Nao’s philosophy about life? - How does the jungle crow fit into the story? What is it meant to represent? - How does suicide affect one’s outlook on life/the meaning of life/purpose? - How much does suicide become part of one’s philosophy if they have experienced an attempt? - What is the meaning of the title of the book “A Tale for the Time Being”? |
CONTEXT TO CONTENT:
We read this book during our Rhetoric and Ideology project in Humanities Honors. After reading and annotating the book, we had a seminar around some essential questions: - How does a single group gain total power in society? Why do people submit to authoritarianism? - What are the reasons why people might not submit to authoritarian power? Is rebellion worth it? What drives Winston’s rebellion? Why do think Orwell ends the novel the way that he does? - What is the purpose of Newspeak? What is the relationship between language and power, both in Orwell’s Oceania AND in the political world we are living in? - Is a government capable of distorting and/or reshaping objective reality (and history) in the minds of its people? Or is our free will too strong for such blind obedience? - Could the technologies of today make Big Brother possible? How? What would have to happen? - Which dystopian novel do you think contains more plausibility and/or relevancy to our society and culture, 1984 or Brave New World (or maybe The Hunger Games)? |