SUMMER READING 2019

ANTHEM by ​ TUALATIN HIGH SCHOOL

Welcome to Advanced English. To be in this advanced course, you are required to read Anthem over the summer ​ ​ and bring this assignment with you on the first full day of class. If you neglect to complete this assignment, you ​ will be transferred immediately to English 9. Please check out a copy of Anthem through your middle school ​ ​ ​ librarian. You may also purchase your own edition if you would like to take notes in your text as you read.

About the book: Ayn Rand (1925-1982) was born in Russia and educated under the Communists, experiencing first hand the horrors of totalitarianism. She escaped Russia in 1926 and came to America because it represented her individualist . Anthem, written in 1937, is Ayn Rand’s novelette about the essence of collectivism.

Anthem is Ayn Rand’s “hymn to man’s ego.” It is the story of one man’s rebellion against a totalitarian, ​ collectivist society. Equality 7-2521 is a young man who yearns to understand “the Science of Things.” But he lives in a bleak, dystopian future where independent thought is a crime and where science and technology have regressed to primitive levels.

All expressions of have been suppressed in the world of Anthem; personal possessions are ​ ​ nonexistent, individual preferences are condemned as sinful and romantic love is forbidden. Obedience to the collective is so deeply ingrained that the very word “I” has been erased from the language.

In pursuit of his quest for knowledge, Equality 7-2521 struggles to answer the questions that burn within him — questions that ultimately lead him to uncover the mystery behind his society’s downfall and to find the key to a future of freedom and progress (Ayn Rand.org).

The assignment: Create a ONE-PAGER

Correct Citations: Cite the page number from the text where you found each quotation. “ wished to know” (3). The only punctuation that can go inside the quotation marks are a ? or ! (no comma or period). Do not worry about using a single quotation mark for a quote within a quote: we will teach you that later.

Overall notes: Be prepared to share, justify, and explain your choices on your one-pager on the first day of class.

These can be organized in any way you want. You just need to include all of the elements. ❏ Please do not stress out about this assignment. Just do your best work. ❏ While this is a prerequisite for getting into the class, it will not be graded. It will, however, be practice for many of our content standards, including theme, evidence, and characterization.

Here are some sample one-pagers from our current 9th graders (almost sophomores) on a graphic novel we read, Persepolis. ​ This assignment had different requirements, but you can get the idea from these samples.