Warnings from 1984 and Fahrenheit 451

The response to this blog posting is due before class starts on Friday, Jan. 16

Both 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 are dystopian novels set in the future. However, one purpose of a dystopian novel is to warn readers about a flaw or problem in today's society today. Based on the first few pages of each novel, what flaw or problem do you think the author is trying to warn us about?

Select an example from one of the excerpts - either 1984 or Fahrenheit 451 - and use it to predict what you think the author is trying to warn us about. What is the problem in the futuristic society and how can it be connected to real problems that exist in our own world today? In your answer, you must use a specific passage or quote from the novel.

If it helps, think about the discussions we've had leading up to the novel about technology.

Linking your Google docs essay to the wiki page

This assignment is due before class starts on Tuesday, Jan. 13

This assignment should be done after you have completed your Privacy Issues Mini-essay on Google documents. For this assignment, I am asking that you do the following to share your essay with the class and with others. Here is what you need to do:

1. Publish your document
2. Add a link to your document on the class wiki page.

Here are the directions for doing each of the tasks above.

To publish your document, open your essay on Google docs and click the share button in the upper right hand corner. There will be an option there to "Publish as web page." Click it.

To add the link, you need to get the html address of your published document. With your document still open, click share again and select "View as webpage." Once you see it as a web page, highlight the address. Your address should look something like this: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgqgx5g5_122c59mntfm

Next, go to the class wiki page and find the page called - Student Privacy Essays. You can access it directly here. It did a sample entry to show you how it should look.

Log in to the wiki (using your username and password with the animals, numbers, and fruit). Write your name and underneath it, paste your essay address. Save the changes and you are done.