Natasha Seletsky
English Portfolio
6 Word Memoirs
Food is good, food is great.
Smore Activity #1: Write ten rules for your dystopian society.
Rule #2: Citizens must be in their homes by 10:00.
Rule #3: Every friday is national ice cream day, citizens must eat ice cream on fridays.
Rule #4: Citizens must clap and smile when they see a government official.
Rule #5: Each citizen must not influence violence.
Rule #6: Children must go to school until they are 18.
Rule #7: 40% of each citizens paycheck must be taken to support the government.
Rule #8: Obedience is key.
Rule#9: Have fun!
Rule #10: If a citizen does not obey these laws they will become undesirables, report them to a government official as soon as possible.
Smore Activity #2 Write a poem that describes an internal conflict that one of the main characters is dealing with.
They told me white lies
I know it to be true
Will I be the one that dies
If only I ever knew
There's ink on my hands
Will they find out
I'm writing of imaginary lands
I want to shout
Away with Big Brother
The children might know
Please don't tell your mother
If you say so
My memory is wasted
If only I didn't listen to what they said
Smore activity #3 Write or record a rap song that details issues within the novel
The People
We have no imagination
Families screaming, crying
but I keep smiling cause i'm not the one that's dying
Someone's shot in the head
Ignorance is good
We don't help even if we could
They committed a crime
It was a thought, as original as they come and we don't like it
Big Brother doesn't like it so it's okay
We listen to what they say
Memory's fading
Whole world's degrading
But we don't know
We only listen if they say so
Smore activity #4: Blog post why 1984 matters
1984 matters because it is proof, evidence, and a good lesson. 1984 centers around a dystopian society where the main character is figuring out that the government is not all that it is cracked up to be. His experiences help him realize that something must have happened, like the government destroying his memories. He realized that there might not be a future for generations to come. This is proof of tyranny, tyranny that is going on right now in other countries of the world. If the U.S is not careful, our government may be run the same way. The book itself is evidence of a life that may still be in the future for our country and others. Us Americans have never felt scared, desperate, or in need unlike some other countries. We have never had a problem so severe that it would affect the economy and every single person in the U.S. We would never think that our government would become tyrannical. The idea would be absolutely absurd. This poses a big problem. One hundred years from now society could be exactly like it is in 1984 and no one would suspect a difference because no one would be prepared. No one would be prepared because we will not believe that our government is tyrannical. We would be assimilated into society, never thinking that life could be different. Life like when we did not believe and had original thoughts. 1984 is a good lesson to be grateful of the government we have now. We can think original thoughts, we have the freedom of speech, and we have the freedom of expression. We also have protected rights. In the book of 1984 society is like a puppet. The government controls everything. It controls the bodies of all the citizens. It tells them what to do and think, pulling them around in the direction that the strings take them.