Q2L 10 ELA discussion

This week we have two questions for you. Please respond to both in separate paragraphs:

ONE:

Nineteen Eighty-Four, along with Fahrenheit 451, is a dystopian novel. The word dystopia is a play on the word "utopia," which means “no place” or “good place.” What might be the point of writing a dystopian novel? What purpose would a writer have in setting a narrative in a terrible place or time? Consider some recent dystopias: V for Vendetta, The Giver, Children of Men, Brave New World, Minority Report, Blade Runner, The Planet of the Apes, The Hunger Games, and The Matrix.

TWO:

Eric Blair, using the pen name George Orwell, published Nineteen Eighty-Four in the year 1949. Based on the publication date alone, what might be some thematic or historic influences on the novel? You might want to do a little research to answer this question. We'll feature the best answers to this question in class, and those students will pick up bonus points.

David and Orlando

The point in writing a dystopian novel could be to show the readers what could happen in the near future. This would cause people to think about what they are doing and maybe rethink their actions to prevent this future form happening. Another reason is to give the reader/protagonist a sense of hatred for the higher power causing this

The point would be to show how much different the world would be if we lose one aspect of it. A writer purpose of this would be to show a different side of the world. How it could be and to create a story based on the what ifs.

I think that when he was writing this book Eric Blair had in mind world war 2. He was making a story based on what the would what be like if axis won.

the point of writing a dystopian novel could be to show that the world could be a lot different and realistic for the future. i think the purpose a writer would have in setting a narrative in a terrible place or time would be to solve problems that are already happening and could get worse in the future. a lot of dystopian novels are realistic.
i think that he was talking about world war two since it was a few years after.

The point of writing a dystopian novel would be to open up a whole story based on a revolt of a kind and overcoming and beating the rulers of the empire the novel takes place under. Its fun to read a character figuring out and overcoming a government controlling everybody when the character comes from a usually poor and sad background(this isn't always the case).

I think that George Orwell or Eric Blair wrote the book with World War II in mind. It seems like he was writing about what the world would be like if the Axis Powers won the world war and forced their system of government on the rest of the world.

I feel like the purpose of an dystopia novel is to have the reader learn how the world will become if we keep on living the way we do or let politicians get ahold of too much power. Since dystopia literally means an made up place in which everything is bad or unpleasant, authors such as George Orwell will use this concept to teach us what will happen in the future. An warning to how the world will slowly turn into hell if we keep on living like this. Personally, I think this is the sole purpose of why Orwell will create an dystopian novel so he can have us think about coming up with a way to prevent this future world from happening. A way to teach us to change our ways and improve our flaws. If we don't, then the world might just come into ruin.

Based on my research on both George Orwell and the date 1949, I've come to an conclusion on what influenced Orwell to write this dystopian novel. I think it's because of WWII(obviously) and to the growing power of country's act of not following up on democracy. In an website I've found, it states that nations have ignored the act of democracy and I feel like Orwell thinks that this can lead to totalitarianism. Thus, leading to the world that he introduced to in 1984. I believe he fears the act of super powered nations will not be able to defeat one another. Again, leading the hellish world that is 1984. Overall, I think the events of Hitler and totalitarianism at the time influenced Orwell to write a novel that teaches mankind on the world it will become if it goes down this path.

Cites that I've used:
http://www.infoplease.com/year/1949.html
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles...

The point of writing a dystopian novel might be to give a reader a look at what the world might be; at what it could be in the future. It shows the negative side of the world and humanity. I personally find this more interesting than reading about rainbows and butterflies with happy endings. It can serve to tell us what needs to be fixed, how we can fix it, and what may happen if we don't fix it.

I think World War II was a significant influence in his book seeing that it was published only four years after the end of it. Oceania is constantly at war with other countries and depicts London as a city filled with craters and bombs falling every day. I think that, since reading George Orwell's letter, that it was influenced by both Hitler and Stalin's way of governing: totalitarianism. He told us in the letter that he feared that great nations will be formed and be constantly at war. I think that the events of 1984 happened directly as an alternate ending of World War II where the war never ended and the borders simply have been changing ever since and people have never stopped fighting. War is Peace is an important factor in this, as i believe when people are at war with a certain people and have something common to fight for, they are more patriotic to their own country and there is a period of peace on the inside.

The point of a dystopian novel is to show the reader what the world might be like if we take a few "bad" elements of our world today, and multiply them. An example of this is if a writer thought Facebook is the down fall to society they could write a book where Facebook knows everything and Facebook made the world a worse place to live. In 451 it is TV. In 1984 it is Soviet Russia spying on everyone (maybe)

I think Eric Blair wrote the book with events surrounding World War 2. I also believe a lot of the book came from USSR, the secret police and spies

A dystopian novels' point is forewarn the readers what the world would be like if we keep doing things a certain way. It is trying to tell a reader what to do if they ever end up living in a dystopian society.

As for the inspiration of 1984, I agree with Kai on the WWII and USSR inspirations, with secret police and spies. Also, since the novel takes place in future Britain, and Eric Blair lived in Britain, it probably helped him write the novel, because he already knew the setting well.

The dystopian novels show hardship and bad times so the main character can overcome them. It has a different moral then utopian novels.

I think that when he was writing this book Eric Blair had in mind WW2. His story was was written 2 years after the war and it resembled some things that happened in the war.

1.) Dystopian societies give the character's a setting where the plot's conflict could easily form. If a book took place in a utopia there would be no major, interesting conflict for the character's to take part in.

2.) Judging by the date, the events centering on the buildup and eruption of WWII seem to have influenced and inspired parts of 1984.