Name____________________________________ Sci­Fi Packet 1/5

SCIENCE ­ FICTION and DYSTOPIAN

LITERATURE Definition of Science Fiction: Science fiction is a genre of fiction in which the stories often tell about science and technology of the future. It is important to note that science fiction has a relationship with the principles of science—these stories involve partially true partially fictitious laws or theories of science. It should not be completely unbelievable, because it then ventures into the genre fantasy. The plot creates situations different from those of both the present day and the known past. Science fiction texts also include a human element, explaining what effect new discoveries, happenings and scientific developments will have on us in the future. Science fiction texts are often set in the future, in space, on a different world, or in a different universe or dimension. 1. What do you think of when you hear “sci­fi” (think books and movies)? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. What do you think of when you hear “dystopian literature? Have you read any books that would be considered dystopian? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. In the science fiction and the dystopian literature that you are familiar with, what do you think the author’s purpose was when he/she was writing? Be specific. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Dystopias: Definition and Characteristics

Utopia: A place, state, or condition that is ideally perfect in respect of politics, laws, customs, and conditions. Dystopia: A futuristic, imagined universe in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through corporate, bureaucratic, technological, moral, or totalitarian control. Dystopias, through an exaggerated worst-case scenario, make a criticism about a current trend, societal norm, or political system.

Characteristics of a Dystopian Society • Propaganda is used to control the citizens of society. • Information, independent thought, and freedom are restricted. • A figurehead (someone important) or concept is worshipped by the citizens of the society. • Citizens are perceived to be under constant surveillance. • Citizens have a fear of the outside world. • Citizens live in a dehumanized (less than human) state. • The natural world is banished and distrusted. • Citizens conform to uniform expectations. Individuality and opposition are bad. • The society is an illusion of a perfect utopian world.

Types of Dystopian Controls Most dystopian works present a world in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through one or more of the following types of controls:

Corporate/Business control: One or more large corporations control society through products, advertising, and/or the media.

Government control: Society is controlled by government.

Technological control: Society is controlled by technology—through computers, robots, and/or scientific means.

Philosophical/religious control: Society is controlled by philosophical or religious ideology often enforced through a dictatorship.

The Dystopian Protagonist often feels trapped and is struggling to escape. questions the existing social and political systems. believes or feels that something is terribly wrong with the society in which he or she lives. helps the audience recognizes the negative aspects of the dystopian world through his or

her perspective.

The Hunger Games Chapter One:

1. How does Suzanne Collins create suspense in the first chapter? Give examples. (hint: literary device)

2. What is the setting of this book? How do you know?

3. What do we learn about the following in Chapter 1? a. The government

b. District 12

c. The Seam

d. Tesserae

e. The Reaping

f. The Hunger Games

4. Freewrite: How do you think Katniss feels when she hears Prim’s name called? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. Based on what you know about The Hunger Games and dystopian literature, what message is Suzanne Collins sending to her readers?

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Assignment: Find out more about The Hunger Games. So many of you have read the book, that we’re going to want to talk about it throughout this unit. If you haven’t read the book, I’d like you to be familiar with the story. This week, please find out about the book in one of the following ways: read it, watch the movie, or talk to a friend. When you’re done, you should be able to answer the following questions. Now that you’ve either read the book or watched the movie (How often does your English teacher ask you to watch a movie instead of reading?), answer the questions below.

1. What is ironic about the Peacekeepers? 2. What do you notice about the use of television in Panem? 3. What are Katniss’ two memories of Peeta? What do they tell us about him? 4. What does Katniss think of Peeta? How does that opinion change?

5. How does the government use/create that mob mentality? 6. Do the opening ceremonies remind you of anything that we do today? Freewrite: What do you find most disturbing about the opening ceremonies? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 7. Compare and contrast Peeta and Gale. Directions: Please use the chart below to keep track of the short stories as we read them.

Harrison Bergeron

There Will Come Soft Rains

All Summer in a Day

The Monsters are due on Maple St.

The Fun they had

Basic Plot

Important Characters

What makes this story Sci­ Fi or dystopian?

What is the most important theme?

What is the author trying to say to his/

her audience?

Directions: With your partner, identify some of the themes found in the short stories that we have read so far and then fill out the graphic organizer.

Theme (include title) Meaning Example 1 Example 2

Name:__________________ Sci­Fi Packet 2/5

HARRISON BERGERON

by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren't only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General. Some things about living still weren't quite right, though. April for instance, still drove people crazy by not being springtime. And it was in that clammy month that the H­G men took George and Hazel Bergeron's fourteen­year­old son, Harrison, away. It was tragic, all right, but George and Hazel couldn't think about it very hard. Hazel had a perfectly average intelligence, which meant she couldn't think about anything except in short bursts. And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. He was required by law to wear it at all times. It was tuned to a government transmitter. Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains. George and Hazel were watching television. There were tears on Hazel's cheeks, but she'd forgotten for the moment what they were about. On the television screen were ballerinas. A buzzer sounded in George's head. His thoughts fled in panic, like bandits from a burglar alarm. "That was a real pretty dance, that dance they just did," said Hazel. "Huh" said George. "That dance­it was nice," said Hazel. "Yup," said George. He tried to think a little about the ballerinas. They weren't really very good­no better than anybody else would have been, anyway. They were burdened with sashweights and bags of birdshot, and their faces were masked, so that no one, seeing a free and graceful gesture or a pretty face, would feel like something the cat drug in. George was toying with the vague notion that maybe dancers shouldn't be handicapped. But he didn't get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts. George winced. So did two out of the eight ballerinas. Hazel saw him wince. Having no mental handicap herself, she had to ask George what the latest sound had been. "Sounded like somebody hitting a milk bottle with a ball peen hammer," said George. "I'd think it would be real interesting, hearing all the different sounds," said Hazel a little envious. "All the things they think up." "Um," said George. "Only, if I was Handicapper General, you know what I would do?" said Hazel. Hazel, as a matter of fact, bore a strong resemblance to the Handicapper General, a woman named Diana Moon Glampers. "If I was Diana Moon Glampers," said Hazel, "I'd have chimes on Sunday­just chimes. Kind of in honor of religion." "I could think, if it was just chimes," said George. "Well­maybe make 'em real loud," said Hazel. "I think I'd make a good Handicapper General." "Good as anybody else," said George. "Who knows better than I do what normal is?" said Hazel.

"Right," said George. He began to think glimmeringly about his abnormal son who was now in jail, about Harrison, but a twenty­one­gun salute in his head stopped that. "Boy!" said Hazel, "that was a doozy, wasn't it?" It was such a doozy that George was white and trembling, and tears stood on the rims of his red eyes. Two of of the eight ballerinas had collapsed to the studio floor, were holding their temples. "All of a sudden you look so tired," said Hazel. "Why don't you stretch out on the sofa, so's you can rest your handicap bag on the pillows, honeybunch." She was referring to the forty­seven pounds of birdshot in a canvas bag, which was padlocked around George's neck. "Go on and rest the bag for a little while," she said. "I don't care if you're not equal to me for a while." George weighed the bag with his hands. "I don't mind it," he said. "I don't notice it any more. It's just a part of me." "You been so tired lately­kind of wore out," said Hazel. "If there was just some way we could make a little hole in the bottom of the bag, and just take out a few of them lead balls. Just a few." "Two years in prison and two thousand dollars fine for every ball I took out," said George. "I don't call that a bargain." "If you could just take a few out when you came home from work," said Hazel. "I mean­you don't compete with anybody around here. You just sit around." "If I tried to get away with it," said George, "then other people'd get away with it­and pretty soon we'd be right back to the dark ages again, with everybody competing against everybody else. You wouldn't like that, would you?" "I'd hate it," said Hazel. "There you are," said George. The minute people start cheating on laws, what do you think happens to society?" If Hazel hadn't been able to come up with an answer to this question, George couldn't have supplied one. A siren was going off in his head. "Reckon it'd fall all apart," said Hazel. "What would?" said George blankly. "Society," said Hazel uncertainly. "Wasn't that what you just said? "Who knows?" said George. The television program was suddenly interrupted for a news bulletin. It wasn't clear at first as to what the bulletin was about, since the announcer, like all announcers, had a serious speech impediment. For about half a minute, and in a state of high excitement, the announcer tried to say, "Ladies and Gentlemen." He finally gave up, handed the bulletin to a ballerina to read. "That's all right­" Hazel said of the announcer, "he tried. That's the big thing. He tried to do the best he could with what God gave him. He should get a nice raise for trying so hard." "Ladies and Gentlemen," said the ballerina, reading the bulletin. She must have been extraordinarily beautiful, because the mask she wore was hideous. And it was easy to see that she was the strongest and most graceful of all the dancers, for her handicap bags were as big as those worn by two­hundred pound men. And she had to apologize at once for her voice, which was a very unfair voice for a woman to use. Her voice was a warm, luminous, timeless melody. "Excuse me­" she said, and she began again, making her voice absolutely uncompetitive. "Harrison Bergeron, age fourteen," she said in a grackle squawk, "has just escaped from jail, where he was held on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government. He is a genius and an athlete, is under­handicapped, and should be regarded as extremely dangerous." A police photograph of Harrison Bergeron was flashed on the screen­upside down, then sideways, upside down again, then right side up. The picture showed the full length of Harrison against a background calibrated in feet and inches. He was exactly seven feet tall. The rest of Harrison's appearance was Halloween and hardware. Nobody had ever born heavier handicaps. He had outgrown hindrances faster than the H­G men could think them up. Instead of a little ear radio for a mental handicap, he wore a tremendous pair of earphones, and spectacles with thick wavy lenses. The spectacles were intended to make him not only half blind, but to give him whanging headaches besides.

Scrap metal was hung all over him. Ordinarily, there was a certain symmetry, a military neatness to the handicaps issued to strong people, but Harrison looked like a walking junkyard. In the race of life, Harrison carried three hundred pounds. And to offset his good looks, the H­G men required that he wear at all times a red rubber ball for a nose, keep his eyebrows shaved off, and cover his even white teeth with black caps at snaggle­tooth random. "If you see this boy," said the ballerina, "do not ­ I repeat, do not ­ try to reason with him." There was the shriek of a door being torn from its hinges. Screams and barking cries of consternation came from the television set. The photograph of Harrison Bergeron on the screen jumped again and again, as though dancing to the tune of an earthquake. George Bergeron correctly identified the earthquake, and well he might have ­ for many was the time his own home had danced to the same crashing tune. "My God­" said George, "that must be Harrison!" The realization was blasted from his mind instantly by the sound of an automobile collision in his head. When George could open his eyes again, the photograph of Harrison was gone. A living, breathing Harrison filled the screen. Clanking, clownish, and huge, Harrison stood ­ in the center of the studio. The knob of the uprooted studio door was still in his hand. Ballerinas, technicians, musicians, and announcers cowered on their knees before him, expecting to die. "I am the Emperor!" cried Harrison. "Do you hear? I am the Emperor! Everybody must do what I say at once!" He stamped his foot and the studio shook. "Even as I stand here" he bellowed, "crippled, hobbled, sickened ­ I am a greater ruler than any man who ever lived! Now watch me become what I can become!" Harrison tore the straps of his handicap harness like wet tissue paper, tore straps guaranteed to support five thousand pounds. Harrison's scrap­iron handicaps crashed to the floor. Harrison thrust his thumbs under the bar of the padlock that secured his head harness. The bar snapped like celery. Harrison smashed his headphones and spectacles against the wall. He flung away his rubber­ball nose, revealed a man that would have awed Thor, the god of thunder. "I shall now select my Empress!" he said, looking down on the cowering people. "Let the first woman who dares rise to her feet claim her mate and her throne!" A moment passed, and then a ballerina arose, swaying like a willow. Harrison plucked the mental handicap from her ear, snapped off her physical handicaps with marvelous delicacy. Last of all he removed her mask. She was blindingly beautiful. "Now­" said Harrison, taking her hand, "shall we show the people the meaning of the word dance? Music!" he commanded. The musicians scrambled back into their chairs, and Harrison stripped them of their handicaps, too. "Play your best," he told them, "and I'll make you barons and dukes and earls." The music began. It was normal at first­cheap, silly, false. But Harrison snatched two musicians from their chairs, waved them like batons as he sang the music as he wanted it played. He slammed them back into their chairs. The music began again and was much improved. Harrison and his Empress merely listened to the music for a while­listened gravely, as though synchronizing their heartbeats with it. They shifted their weights to their toes. Harrison placed his big hands on the girl’s tiny waist, letting her sense the weightlessness that would soon be hers. And then, in an explosion of joy and grace, into the air they sprang! Not only were the laws of the land abandoned, but the law of gravity and the laws of motion as well. They reeled, whirled, swiveled, flounced, capered, gamboled, and spun. They leaped like deer on the moon.

The studio ceiling was thirty feet high, but each leap brought the dancers nearer to it. It became their obvious intention to kiss the ceiling. They kissed it. And then, neutraling gravity with love and pure will, they remained suspended in air inches below the ceiling, and they kissed each other for a long, long time. It was then that Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General, came into the studio with a double­barreled ten­gauge shotgun. She fired twice, and the Emperor and the Empress were dead before they hit the floor. Diana Moon Glampers loaded the gun again. She aimed it at the musicians and told them they had ten seconds to get their handicaps back on. It was then that the Bergerons' television tube burned out. Hazel turned to comment about the blackout to George. But George had gone out into the kitchen for a can of beer. George came back in with the beer, paused while a handicap signal shook him up. And then he sat down again. "You been crying" he said to Hazel. "Yup," she said. "What about?" he said. "I forget," she said. "Something real sad on television." "What was it?" he said. "It's all kind of mixed up in my mind," said Hazel. "Forget sad things," said George. "I always do," said Hazel. "That's my girl," said George. He winced. There was the sound of a riveting gun in his head. "Gee ­ I could tell that one was a doozy," said Hazel. "You can say that again," said George. "Gee­" said Hazel, "I could tell that one was a doozy."

"Harrison Bergeron" is copyrighted by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., 1961.

Discussion Questions for “Harrison Bergeron” ­ Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. 1. What is the tone of this story? 2. In your opinion, what does it mean to be equal? Does being equal mean that everyone must be the same? What do you feel is Vonnegut's view on equality? 3. When Harrison Bergeron is completely free from his handicaps, he defies the laws of gravity and motion. What might Vonnegut be suggesting about the potential of free human beings? 4. In traditional stories, the hero is a superhuman figure, who "saves" people from an enemy. In what passages is Harrison superhuman? How are the results of Harrison's efforts ironic? 5. Is competition good, bad, or a little of both? Why do you feel that way? 6. Imagine you are the Handicapper General. How would you hinder the talents of the following individuals: Brett Favre, Albert Einstein, Brad Pitt and Beyonce Knowles.

7. Rewrite the ending of this story. Imagine that Harrison is NOT killed and he becomes Emperor. What changes would he make? 8. What ideas or programs in American society do you think Vonnegut might be ridiculing in "Harrison Bergeron"? 9. Why do you think Kurt Vonnegut wrote this story? 10. What do The Hunger Games and “Harrison Bergeron” have in common?

Directions: Read and annotate the following excerpt from The Declaration of

Independence. When you are done, answer the questions that follow.

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the

political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the

powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of

Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they

should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self­evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

1. What was the purpose of The Declaration of Independence? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. What did the founding fathers mean by, “all men are created equal”? Has this line changed over the years? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. Has the government in “Harrison Bergeron” stayed true to The Declaration of Independence? Why or why not? Please use specific evidence from the story to support your answer. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Name:______________________________ Sci­Fi Packet 3/5 There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury (born 1920)

In the living room the voice­clock sang, Tick­tock, seven o'clock, time to get up, time to get up, seven o'clock! as if it were afraid nobody would. The morning house lay empty. The clock ticked on, repeating and repeating its sounds into the emptiness. Seven­nine, breakfast time, seven­nine! In the kitchen the breakfast stove gave a hissing sigh and ejected from its warm interior eight pieces of perfectly browned toast, eight eggs sunnyside up, sixteen slices of bacon, two coffees, and two cool glasses of milk. "Today is August 4, 2026," said a second voice from the kitchen ceiling., "in the city of Allendale, California." It repeated the date three times for memory's sake. "Today is Mr. Featherstone's birthday. Today is the anniversary of Tilita's marriage. Insurance is payable, as are the water, gas, and light bills." Somewhere in the walls, relays clicked, memory tapes glided under electric eyes. Eight­one, tick­tock, eight­one o'clock, off to school, off to work, run, run, eight­one! But no doors slammed, no carpets took the soft tread of rubber heels. It was raining outside. The weather box on the fron door sang quietly: "Rain, rain, go away; rubbers, raincoats for today..." And the rain tapped on the empty house, echoing. Outside, the garage chimed and lifted its door to reveal the waiting car. After a long wait the door swung down again. At eight­thirty the eggs were shriveled and the toast was like stone. An aluminum wedge scraped them down a metal throat which digested and flushed them away to the distant sea. The dirty dishes were dropped into a hot washer and emerged twinkling dry. Nine­fifteen, sang the clock, time to clean. Out of warrens in the wall, tiny robot mice darted. The rooms were acrawl with the small cleaning animals, all rubber and metal. They thudded against chairs, whirling their mustached runners, kneading the rug nap, sucking gently at hidden dust. Then, like mysterious invaders, they popped into their burrows. Their pink electric eye faded. The house was clean. Ten o'clock. The sun came out from behind the rain. The house stood alone in a city of rubble and ashes. This was the one house left standing. At night the ruined city gave of a radioactive glow which could be seen for miles. Ten­fifteen. The garden sprinklers whirled up in golden founts, filling the soft morning air with scatterings of brightness. The water pelted windowpanes, running down the charred west side where the house had been burned evenly free of its white paint. The entire west face of the house was black, save for five places. Here the silhouette in paint of a man mowing a lawn. Here, as in a photograph, a woman bent to pick flowers. Still farther over, their images burned on wood in one titantic instant, a small boy, hands flung into the air; higher up, the image of thrown ball, and opposite him a girl, hand raised to catch a ball which never came down. The five spots of paint­ the man, the woman, the children, the ball ­ remained. The rest was a thin charcoaled layer. The gentle sprinkler rain filled the garden with falling light. Until this day, how well the house had kept its peace. How carefully it had inquired, 'Who goes there? What's the password?" and, getting no answer from the only foxes and whining cats, it had shut up its windows and drawn shades in an old­maidenly preoccupation with self­protection which bordered on a mechanical paranoia. It quivered at each sound, the house did. If a sparrow brushed a window, the shade snapped up. The bird, startled, flew off! No, not even a bird must touch the house! The house was an altar with ten thousand attendants, big, small, servicing, attending, in choirs. But the gods had gone away, and the ritual of the religion continued senselessly, uselessly. Twelve noon. A dog whined, shivering, on the front porch.

The front door recognized the dog voice and opened. The dog, once large and fleshy, but now gone to bone and covered with sores, moved in and through the house, tracking mud. Behind it whirred angry mice, angry at having to pick up mud, angry at inconvenience. For not a leaf fragment blew under the door but what the wall panels flipped open and the copper scrap rats flashed swiftly out. The offending dust, hair, or paper, seized in miniature steel jaws, was raced back to the burrows. There, down tubes which fed into the cellar, it was dropped like evil Baal in a dark corner. The dog ran upstairs, hysterically yelping to each door, at last realizing, as the house realized, that only silence was here. It sniffed the air and scratched the kitchen door. Behind the door, the stove was making pancakes which filled the house with a rich odor and the scent of maple syrup. The dog frothed at the mouth, lying at the door, sniffing, its eyes turned to fire. It ran wildly in circles, biting at its tail, spun in a frenzy, and died. It lay in the parlor for an hour Two 'clock, sang a voice. Delicately sensing decay at last, the regiments of mice hummed out as softly as blown gray leaves in an electrical wind. Two­fifteen. The dog was gone. In the cellar, the incinerator glowed suddenly and a whirl of sparks leaped up the chimney. Two thirty­five. Bridge tables sprouted from patio walls. Playing cards fluttered onto pads in a shower of pips. Martinis manifested on an oaken bench with egg salad sandwiches. Music played. But the tables were silent and the cards untouched. At four o'clock the tables folded like great butterflies back through the paneled walls. Four­thirty. The nursery walls glowed. Animals took shape: yellow giraffes, blue lions, pink antelopes, lilac panthers cavorting in crystal substance. The walls were glass. They looked out upon color and fantasy. Hidden films clocked through the well­oiled sprockets, and the walls lived. The nursery floor was woven to resemble a crisp cereal meadow. Over this ran aluminum roaches and iron crickets, and in the hot still air butterflies of delicate red tissue wavered among the sharp aroma of animal spoors! There was the sound like a great matted yellow hive of bees within a dark bellows, the lazy bumble of a purring lion. And there was the patter of okapi feet and the murmur of a fresh jungle rain, like other hoofs falling upon the summer­starched grass. Now the walls dissolved into distances of parched weed, mile on mile, and warm endless sky. The animals drew away into thorn brakes and water holes.It was the children's hour. Five o'clock. The bath filled with clear hot water. Six, seven, eight o'clock. The dinner dishes manipulated like magic tricks, and in the study a click. In the metal stand opposite the hearth where a fire now blazed up warmly, a cigar popped out, half an inch of soft gray ash on it, smoking, waiting. Nine o'clock. The beds warmed their hidden circuits, for nights were cool here. Nine­five. A voice spoke from the study ceiling: "Mrs. McClellan, which poem would you like this evening?" The house was silent. The voice said at last, "Since you express no preference, I shall select a poem at random." Quiet music rose to back the voice. "Sara Teasdale. As I recall, your favorite... "There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground, And swallows circling with their shimmering sound; And frogs in the pools singing at night, And wild plum trees in tremulous white; Robins will wear their feathery fire, Whistling their whims on a low fence­wire; And not one will know of the war, not one Will care at last when it is done. Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree, If mankind perished utterly; And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn Would scarcely know that we were gone." The fire burned on the stone hearth and the cigar fell away into a mound of quiet ash on its tray. The empty chairs faced each other between the silent walls, and the music played.

At ten o'clock the house began to die. The wind blew. A falling tree bough crashed through the kitchen window. Cleaning solvent, bottled, shattered over the stove. The room was ablaze in an instant! "Fire!" screamed a voice. The house lights flashed, water pumps shot water from the ceilings. But the solvent spread on the linoleum, licking, eating, under the kitchen door, while the voices took it up in chorus: "Fire, fire, fire!" The house tried to save itself. Doors sprang tightly shut, but the windows were broken by the heat and the wind blew and sucked upon the fire. The house gave ground as the fire in ten billion angry sparks moved with flaming ease from room to room and then up the stairs. While scurrying water rats squeaked from the walls, pistoled their water, and ran for more. And the wall sprays let down showers of mechanical rain. But too late. Somewhere, sighing, a pump shrugged to a stop. The quenching rain ceased. The reserve water supply which filled the baths and washed the dishes for many quiet days was gone. The fire crackled up the stairs. It fed upon Picassos and Matisses in the upper halls, like delicacies, baking off the oily flesh, tenderly crisping the canvases into black shavings. Now the fire lay in beds, stood in windows, changed the colors of drapes! And then, reinforcements. From attic trapdoors, blind robot faces peered down with faucet mouths gushing green chemical. The fire backed off, as even an elephant must at the sight of a dead snake. Now there were twenty snakes whipping over the floor, killing the fire with a clear cold venom of green froth. But the fire was clever. It had sent flames outside the house, up through the attic to the pumps there. An explosion! The attic brain which directed the pumps was shattered into bronze shrapnel on the beams. The fire rushed back into every closet and felt of the clothes that hung there. The house shuddered, oak bone on bone, its bared skeleton cringing from the heat, its wire, its nerves revealed as if a surgeon had torn the skin off to let the red veins and capillaries quiver in the scalded air. Help, help! Fire! Run, run! Heat snapped mirrors like the first brittle winter ice. And the voices wailed Fire, fire, run, run, like a tragic nursery rhyme, a dozen voices, high, low, like children dying in a forest, alone, alone. And the voices fading as the wires popped their sheathings like hot chestnuts. One, two, three, four, five voices died. In the nursery the jungle burned. Blue lions roared, purple giraffes bounded off. The panthers ran in circles, changing color, and ten million animals, running before the fire, vanished off toward a distant steaming river... Ten more voices died. In the last instant under the fire avalanche, other choruses, oblivious, could be heard announcing the time, playing music, cutting the lawn by remote­control mower, or setting an umbrella frantically out and in the slamming and opening front door, a thousand things happening, like a clock shop when each clock strikes the hour insanely before or after the other, a scene of maniac confusion, yet unity; singing, screaming, a few last cleaning mice darting bravely out to carry the horrid ashes away! And one voice, with sublime disregard for the situation, read poetry aloud all in the fiery study, until all the film spools burned, until all the wires withered and the circuits cracked. The fire burst the house and let it slam flat down, puffing out skirts of spark and smoke. In the kitchen, an instant before the rain of fire and timber, the stove could be seen making breakfasts at a psychopathic rate, ten dozen eggs, six loaves of toast, twenty dozen bacon strips, which , eaten by fire, started the stove working again,hysterically hissing! The crash. The attic smashing into the kitchen and parlor. The parlor into cellar, cellar into sub­cellar. Deep freeze, armchair, film tapes, circuits, beds, and all like skeletons thrown in a cluttered mound deep under. Smoke and silence. A great quantity of smoke. Dawn showed faintly in the east. Among the ruins, one wall stood alone. Within the wall, a last voice said, over and over again and again, even as the sun rose to shine upon the heaper rubble and steam: "Today is August 5, 2026, today is August 5, 2026, today is..."

FREEWRITE: How does this story make you feel? What does the author do to make you feel this way? Be specific. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Directions: Complete the chart below.

Quote What does the quote mean? Why is this quote important to the story?

The opening line: “In the living room the voice­clock sang, Tick­tock, seven o'clock, time to get up, time to get up, seven o'clock! as if it were afraid that nobody would.”

“The house was an altar with ten thousand attendants, big, small, servicing, attending, in choirs. But the gods had gone away, and the ritual of the religion continued senselessly, uselessly.”

“The nursery floor was woven to resemble a crisp, cereal meadow. Over this ran aluminium roaches and iron crickets, and in the hot still air butterflies of delicate red tissue wavered among the sharp aroma of animal spoors!”

“And the voices wailed Fire, fire, run, run, like a tragic nursery rhyme, a dozen voices, high, low, like children dying in a forest, alone, alone.”

The concluding line: “Within the

wall, a last voice said, over and over again and again, even as the sun rose to shine upon the heaped rubble and steam: "Today is August 5, 2026, today is August 5, 2026, today is…"

Historic events and technology Directions: Read and annotate the historical and political context information below. When you are done, answer the questions that follow. Aftermath of World War II: Bradbury wrote There Will Come Soft Rains in the early 1950s. The memory of World War II was fresh in peoples' minds, particularly the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in August, 1945, which brought the war to an end. Though the Allies had won, an increasing tension arose between the United States and the U.S.S.R., and soon a nuclear buildup known as the Cold War began. President Dwight Eisenhower, a war hero, warned of the rising military­industrial complex it took to support the Cold War. The story portrays a scene of obliteration, in which the human race has been destroyed by a nuclear bomb. The fear of the devastating effects of nuclear force was very applicable to the time period of the 1950s. The world was still recovering from the effects of World War II and events, such as the dropping of atomic bombs in Japan still seemed recent. In 1945, the United States released a nuclear bomb over the city of Hiroshima that destroyed nearly everything in the city. Three days later, Nagasaki was also bombed. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed in these bombings, either from direct impact or the deadly effects of radiation that killed them within a few years of the incident. Even though the war ended shortly after these events, the fear of retaliation and the increasing focus on the development of nuclear weapons by many military powers world­wide, produced fear in the minds of people. After the war, tension increased between the two major military powers of the time, the U.S.S.R. and the United States, culminating in the Cold War. This era was also a time of uncertainty, and the idea of being bombed with a nuclear weapon was a daily fear. 1951: The first thermonuclear device is detonated by the United States in the midPacific. The island atoll of Eniwetok is obliterated by the blast. Few precautions are taken to protect nearby inhabitants from radiation poisoning. 1997: A significant percentage of the United States' electricity is generated by nuclear power plants, despite several near meltdowns in the last few decades, including mishaps at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, and Monroe, Michigan. 1951: The world's first commercial computer, the Univac, is produced by Remington Rand.

1. How are each of these events connected to the story? Be specific. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. Why would Ray Bradbury want to allude to these events? What was his purpose in writing this story? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” ­ Discussion Questions 1. How does the author establish the specific genre (beyond just a play)?

2. What mood does the narrator establish, and what words and phrases does the narrator use to draw the reader

into the text?

3. Looking at the opening descriptions of the setting of Maple Street, what does the author want the reader to

understand about the situation and the characters? Cite examples to support your answer.

4. When the author says (through Charlie), “A little power failure and right away we all get flustered and

everything,” what does the word flustered mean? How does this tie into the character reactions?

5. What do Steve’s words and the stage directions reveal about him or his intentions?

6. What does the word “murmur” mean, and why is it used repetitively?

7. When Tommy says, “They sent four people. A mother and a father and two kids who looked just like

humans… but they weren’t,” what is the effect on the crowd?

8. How do different people view Les Goodman in Act I? What do their actions and statements reveal?

9. How have the characters shifted from a crowd to a mob? What words reinforce the idea of a mob? How is

this mob mentality significant?

10. Why do you think that the author chose to use the word metamorphosis instead of change in the sentence,

“…they take the first step toward a metamorphosis from a group into a mob.” What does this reveal about

human nature?

11. Les reacts to the crowd. What does he say, and what does this reveal about the theme?

12. How does the title relate to Steve’s joke that “We’re all on a monster kick, Les”?

13. The dark ages were a period of intellectual darkness and regression. Why does the author choose to use the

phrase “dark ages” instead of dark? How does this tie back to the narrator’s original opening?

14. What is the sequence of events that describe the mob’s progression? How do the plot and character actions

develop a theme of the story?

15. Using Charlie’s reactions and words as evidence, how do you think Charlie feels about shooting Peter Van

Horn?

16. At the end of the play, what conclusion do the aliens come to about humanity?

“The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” ­ SHORT ANSWER RESPONSE:

1. What are the weapons of humanity? How can each destroy? Use specific evidence from the text to

support how each of these weapons caused destruction in this story.

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2. Why does the author title the story “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street”? What is the significance of the

word “due”?

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Directions: Now that we have completed “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street,” each of you will retell the story in comic book fashion. Your comic must include:

Each part of the plot diagram (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution) Pictures and at least some words 8 boxes (No more than 8. No less than 8!)

What decisions (at least 3) did you need to make when you created your comic book of this story? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Now that you have retold this story in your own comic book, we will watch the original Twilight Zone episode. As you are watching, answer the following questions. What differences did you see between the text and the show? Explain. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ What kinds of decisions (at least 3) did the director need to make when he produced this show? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“All Summer in a Day” By Ray Bradbury

Setting What is the setting?

­ time period? ­ What does the environment look like?

Text Based Evidence

Are the characters in conflict with the setting? ­ What do they want? ­ Does the setting keep them from getting what

they want?

How would you describe the atmosphere or mood created by the setting? What are some specific words or phrases that indicate the mood?

1. How long has it been raining?

2. What have the children been waiting for?

3. How do the children feel about the weather on Venus? How would you feel if you were in that situation?

4. How do the other children treat Margot? Why do you suppose that is?

5. How do the children react when they realize they have forgotten about Margot?

6. Why do you suppose Margot was silent when she was let out of the closet?

7. At the end of the story, Bradbury does not tell the reader how Margot reacts. Do you think the story would have been better if he revealed how Margot reacted or is it better the way that it is? Explain.

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Quote Choose a quote from “All in a Summer’s Day” and write it in this column

Tone, Voice, Diction What is the tone of this quote? Is there anything important about the word choice?

Author’s Purpose Why do you think Bradbury includes this quote in the text? Does this quote develop a particular theme?

“The Fun They Had” Isaac Asimov Answer the following questions using information from the passage and the rest of the text. 1. Why does Margie ask, “How could a man be a teacher?”

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. With which statement would the author most likely agree? Why? a. Children will learn faster and better in the future with technology. b. Computers are much better teachers than human teachers. c. Schools of the past did not do a good job of teaching children. d. Learning with others posing different ideas results in true learning.

3. Describe the setting of the passage/story.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 4. What is the author’s tone in this passage? How do you know?

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5. The narrator states, “He can't. A man can't know as much as a teacher.” What does is meant by this?

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 6. Why does Tommy state, “I betcha.” At the end of his statement? What does this show about his character?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 7. List four advantages of studying at home with a robot teacher.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 8. List four advantages of studying in a school with other students.

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9. In a well­developed paragraph, make a claim and provide support based on this prompt: Do you believe that Margie and her friends learned more from an individual computer­based tutor in her home than in a traditional school? Use information from the text and your discussions to support your answer. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Science Fiction and Dystopian Literature Final Assessment: From the literature we have read in our science fiction/ dystopian unit, pick two stories and identify the author’s purpose for each story. What is the author saying about his/her current society? What does the author fear? In a well developed essay, discuss how the author’s purpose is developed in the two works of literature. In your response be sure to

identify the author’s purpose for each story explain how the author’s purpose is developed for each story use details from both passages to support your response

Choose two of the stories from this unit and use the chart below to plan out your essay. “Harrison Bergeron,” “All Summer in a Day,” “There Will Come Soft Rains,” “The Fun They Had,” “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street.”

Literature Author’s Purpose Evidence from text How the evidence develops the author’s purpose