Connections: Power & Control
Short Stories
The Machine Stops (1909) by E.M. Forster.
The Lottery (1948) by Shirley Jackson.
Examination Day (1958) by Henry Slesar.
Harrison Bergeron (1961) by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
We ate the Children Last (2004) by Yann Martel.
The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas (1973) by Ursula K. Le Guin
Non-Fiction Prose Texts
A Modest Proposal (1729) - an essay by Jonathan Swift.
Teen Opinion - How bleak should Dystopian Fiction be? (2015)
Inside China's Dystopian Dreams: AI, Shame and Lots of Cameras (2018) - Paul Mozur, NY Times.
12 Signs Trump would try to run a fascist dictatorship in a second term (July 2020) - by Jonathan Greenberg, Washington Post.
Poetry
The Waste Land (1922) by T. S. Elliot.
No Ordinary Sun (1959) by Hone Tuwhare.
We Didn't Start the Fire (1989) song by Billy Joel - Lyrics.
Your Utopia, Our Dystopia (2015) by hanalesmith.
2023 - Because we got it wrong (2021) by Dave Conlin.
Novels
Set novel: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.
Other recommended novels:
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Smith's Dream by C.K. Stead
Blind Faith by Ben Elton
Anthem by Ayn Rand
We the Living by Ayn Rand
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyhn
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Copies of these can be borrowed from the English Department.
Plays
Richard III by William Shakespeare
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Copies of these can be borrowed from the English Department.
Films
Some suggested films:
The Giver (link to come)
Other Resources
Story Web Connections Notes (Spreadsheet) Notes on Genre - Dystopic Fiction Introduction to Political Philosophy Government
Connections Assessment Resources
Example of completed Planning Signoff
Resource A: Identify what connects your four texts - Doc Version
Resource A: Identify what connects your four texts - Spreadsheet Version
Resource B: Report Plan (identifying key examples)
Connections Assessment Process
Read the assessment task, NZQA and ŌC exemplars.
Decide on a theme or over-arching idea/topic and identify the four texts you would like to use (your teacher can help with suggesting texts).
Complete your draft planning signoff (main idea and texts) to get your plan approved by your English teacher.
Read/view/listen to your four texts and record relevant information in Resource A.
Review your Resource A notes and decide on the two aspects you will focus on for your connections. Revisit your planning signoff, make any amendments needed and check this again with your teacher.
Complete Resource B - finding and recording the specific examples you will use for each of your two connections.
Draft your essay, using your Resource B notes and the Suggested Report Outline to help you.
Hand your completed essay in by the due date for formal feedback.
Act on feedback and submit your final assessment by the final submission date.
