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Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2014 16:50:48 GMT -5
I am writing a scene where a Lit professor is trying to encourage the class to see the ramifications of a police state, and uses the book they have been reading to do so. The city is fictional, but still based in an alternate universe US. I imagine in their own police state, most blatant books like 1984 would be banned, so is there a book that a 16-17 year old would read that would have that theme, but would be less likely to be banned?
I was thinking maybe the Lord of the Rings could work, and it would have some immediate impact on the reading audience out of familiarity. Any other ideas?
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Post by Becca Mills on Apr 3, 2014 16:52:13 GMT -5
I am writing a scene where a Lit professor is trying to encourage the class to see the ramifications of a police state, and uses the book they have been reading to do so. The city is fictional, but still based in an alternate universe US. I imagine in their own police state, most blatant books like 1984 would be banned, so is there a book that a 16-17 year old would read that would have that theme, but would be less likely to be banned? I was thinking maybe the Lord of the Rings could work, and it would have some immediate impact on the reading audience out of familiarity. Any other ideas? The Giver, by Lois Lowry?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2014 16:53:02 GMT -5
I thought about that, but that's generally read at an elementary level. Might be too easy for this group. Also might be too blantant/end up banned.
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Post by Becca Mills on Apr 3, 2014 17:45:45 GMT -5
I thought about that, but that's generally read at an elementary level. Might be too easy for this group. Also might be too blantant/end up banned. Hmmm. Lord of the Flies? V for Vendetta?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2014 17:47:13 GMT -5
Maybe one of those. LOL This is harder than I thought! And I'm not sure how strict I want my society to be. I probably should consider that.
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Post by Becca Mills on Apr 3, 2014 18:33:48 GMT -5
Maybe one of those. LOL This is harder than I thought! And I'm not sure how strict I want my society to be. I probably should consider that. Maybe something traditionally ID'd as a non-threatening genre -- comic, kids' book, animal story -- might be more likely to get under the regime's radar.
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Post by Becca Mills on Apr 3, 2014 18:37:53 GMT -5
The neat thing about Lord of the Flies, for this purpose, is that the popular perception of its main point is that it's about the breakdown of morality that happens when you release people from the controlling forces of civil society and government. So it's a book that a police state might think supports them, if they didn't actually bother examining in. But actually, it's not about that at all. What the adults are doing off the island (World Warm III/nuclear Armageddon) is a million times worse than one the boys are doing on the island. The adults' mass destruction is just covered with a veneer of clean, pressed uniforms and "proper" behavior. The book is as thoroughgoing a piece of misanthropy as you're ever likely to encounter.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2014 18:47:04 GMT -5
The neat thing about Lord of the Flies, for this purpose, is that the popular perception of its main point is that it's about the breakdown of morality that happens when you release people from the controlling forces of civil society and government. So it's a book that a police state might think supports them, if they didn't actually bother examining in. But actually, it's not about that at all. What the adults are doing off the island (World Warm III/nuclear Armageddon) is a million times worse than one the boys are doing on the island. The adults' mass destruction is just covered with a veneer of clean, pressed uniforms and "proper" behavior. The book is as thoroughgoing a piece of misanthropy as you're ever likely to encounter. That's a very good point. I will have to think on that. I will also have to research using the use of the name of the book. I just realized that could be a problem.
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Post by Becca Mills on Apr 3, 2014 18:57:05 GMT -5
The neat thing about Lord of the Flies, for this purpose, is that the popular perception of its main point is that it's about the breakdown of morality that happens when you release people from the controlling forces of civil society and government. So it's a book that a police state might think supports them, if they didn't actually bother examining in. But actually, it's not about that at all. What the adults are doing off the island (World Warm III/nuclear Armageddon) is a million times worse than one the boys are doing on the island. The adults' mass destruction is just covered with a veneer of clean, pressed uniforms and "proper" behavior. The book is as thoroughgoing a piece of misanthropy as you're ever likely to encounter. That's a very good point. I will have to think on that. I will also have to research using the use of the name of the book. I just realized that could be a problem. I don't think it is, from what I've read on KB. I don't think you can quote the text without permission, but I don't think titles of individual books can be either copyrighted or trademarked.
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Post by vrabinec on Apr 3, 2014 19:23:37 GMT -5
Brave New World?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2014 10:07:28 GMT -5
I ended up picking Heart of Darkness, so I can pinpoint the themes about the bad guy a bit more. I have to go back and remember it now, though. It's been years since I've read it.
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Post by Suzy on Apr 6, 2014 11:10:57 GMT -5
Animal Farm?
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Post by vrabinec on Apr 6, 2014 12:19:15 GMT -5
I ended up picking Heart of Darkness, so I can pinpoint the themes about the bad guy a bit more. I have to go back and remember it now, though. It's been years since I've read it. I'm not sure there was a bad guy in Heart of Darkness. I took "white man" to be the antagonist. Kurtz was nuts, but he sympathized with the natives to the point of forsaking his beloved with his final statement in favor of the "Oh, the horror." Maybe I'm not remembering it right. It's been years for me, too.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2014 12:51:56 GMT -5
In the end, it didn't matter too much. I wrote it and just talked about the darkness of humanity.
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