October 29, 2014

Periods 1-3: Senior AP English

AP: Rhetoric of Language and Comp                                                             1984 by George Orwell

(Individually) Paying close attention to tone, purpose, diction, syntax, and selection of details (whew…what a list!), reread the passage that begins at the beginning of 219 and ends at the end of 220. (10 minutes) 

(With one or two partners) Discuss your annotations and the prompt below (10 minutes) and then get started on the following:

(With one or two partners) Do the following assignment:  October 29, 2014, 1984: Tone and Purpose in pages 219-220   (due at the end of class): Create a detailed outline  - containing, at a minimum, a thesis, topic sentences and important textual evidence - for an AP-style essay which responds to the following prompt (20-30 minutes).  Note that this prompt might later be used for a graded in-class essay assignment.

Prompt: Reread the passage beginning at the top of 219 and ending at the bottom of 220. Then write a  rhetorical analysis essay in which you describe Orwell’s tone in the passage and how particular rhetorical choices contribute to this tone. Also address whether the tone seems appropriately suited to Orwell’s subject matter and purpose(s) in this passage.  Some possible rhetorical elements to consider could include but are not necessarily limited to the following: diction, syntax, figurative language, images, organization/structure, and selection of details.

Reminder about the difference between tone and mood: The tone of a piece of literature is the speaker's or narrator's attitude towards the subject, rather than what the reader feels, as in mood. Mood is the general feeling or atmosphere that a piece of writing creates within the reader.

Other Reminders:

Diction: word choice

Syntax: arrangement of words

Juxtaposition: placement of two things closely together to emphasize similarities or differences

Images/imagery: Content/language which appeal to the senses; language which helps the writer paint a picture, bring a scene to life, and perhaps create a certain atmosphere or mood

Selection of details: the author’s inclusion of particular details in a passage in order to achieve a particular purpose or effect

Connotation: Meanings or associations that readers have beyond its dictionary definition

Personification: lifelike qualities given to an inanimate object

Homework:

Please do the following journal entry titled: October 29, 2014: What did Orwell get right in 1984?  In thinking about what he got right, you would need to be thinking about what his novel is saying to an audience now. What he got right asks you to be conscious of what was fictionalized and what actually happened, the Orwellian truth, long after his novel was published. Without being too literal, take a look at history (from 1948, when he wrote the book, to the present) and write about some of the ideas, social and political trends, warfare, impacts/uses of technology, changes in language (e.g., text-talk), and anything else you might think of which seems to be an echo/reflection of the types of things Orwell was warning us about in 1984.  Please write a thoughtful 11-15 sentence reflection, due at the beginning of class tomorrow (we will discuss them).