Summer Reading Assignment

For Students Entering 9th Grade

 

You are assigned to read the following text over the summer:

          Brave New World  by Aldous Huxley

 

You are also to read two other books that you may choose from this list:

          Adams, Douglas,  Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

          Adams,  Richard,  Watership Down

          Anderson, Sherwood,  Winesburg, Ohio

          Black Elk,  Black Elk Speaks

          Campbell, Joseph,  The Power of Myth

          Catcher, Willa,  O, Pioneers!

          DuBois, W.E.B.,  The Souls of Black Folk

          Fitzgerald, F. Scott,  The Great Gatsby

          Graves, Robert,  I, Claudius

          Hamilton, Edith,  Mythology

          Heaney, Seamus,  Beowulf

          Herbert, Frank,  Dune

          Hurston, Zora Neale,  Their Eyes Were Watching God

          Lee, Harper,  To Kill a Mockingbird

          Lowry, Lois,  The Giver

          Matel, Yann,  The Life of Pi 

          Salinger, J.D.,  Catcher in the Rye

          Steinbeck, John,  Of Mice and Men

          Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr.,  Slaughterhouse Five

          Wiesel, Elie,  Night

 

When you return to school in August, you should bring a letter from your parent(s) listing the books you read and including a signature to verify that you have read these texts.  I encourage you to try to read these texts throughout the summer and not wait until the last minute to finish this assignment.  Reading is enjoyable...don’t make it work.

 

In August, you will be given a writing assignment based upon these texts, so I strongly advise you to make marginal notations in the text (observations, comments, responses, favorite passages, questions, and so forth) that you may return to later.  You should pay special attention to the development of character (how certain character qualities are demonstrated) and the development of themes.  You may want to keep a writing journal to aid you.

 

Naturally, you do not have to limit your summer reading to this assignment.  Read more if you like.  Feel free to ask me or your fellow students for recommendations.  Summer is a time to set your own schedules, but I encourage you to keep your mind alive and your days filled with profitable activity.

 

Dr. Schawang

 

 

QUESTIONS FOR YOU TO ANSWER WHILE READING BRAVE NEW WORLD: 

1.  “COMMUNITY.  IDENTITY.  STABILITY.”  Are these our goals too?  Is this what most of us want in society?  Can these words mean different things to different people? 

2.  What is “childhood” in your opinion?  What does it mean in Huxley’s world? 

3.  How do we define “natural”?  Is our human society any more natural than Huxley’s? 

4.  “That is the secret of happiness and virtue—liking what you’ve got to do.  All conditions aim at that:  making people like their unescapable social destiny.”  What do you think about this idea?  Wouldn’t such a society be a happy one?  Wouldn’t we be happier if we could do this? 

5.  Are we conditioned as human beings to want certain things and to behave in a certain way?  Is that how we account for our modern ethics, our belief in right and wrong?  How much of your “self” is determined by the culture around you and how much are you truly free to determine yourself? 

6.  Consider Mustapha Mond’s description and criticism of our present world.  Could you make an argument for how he might be right? 

7.  Do we have a more healthy relationship with death than do the people in Huxley’s world?  What would define a truly “healthy” relationship with death? 

8.  What is the Savage’s argument against this dystopian society of Huxley’s? 

9.  What role does science play in our own society?  Does it influence our identities? 

10. What is “happiness” for Huxley’s people?  For the Savage?  And what about for us?  (And don’t tell me that happiness is different for everyone…that is simply lazy thinking.  We CAN talk about common definitions of happiness.  Is happiness simply physical “pleasure” or does it mean more?) 

11. Does the role of women change much in the future?  Are they equal to men? 

12. Clearly, a modern reader will rebel against the loss of “true” individuality in Huxley’s world, but what is “true” individuality?  Is it a fiction?  And what makes us value our individuality so much?