This week we move in a different direction and read about young

adults caught in a different kind of invasion in England in the aftermath of a limited nuclear exchange.

 The novel is somewhat controversial in its depiction of the romantic relationship that develops early in the narrative.

You might give the film based on this excellent novel your attention.  And Meg Rosoff  won the highly-acclaimed Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award from Swedish Minister for Culture and Democracy

Among other things, Astrid Lindgren wrote that “Everything great that happened in this world happened first in someone’s imagination.”

This week's blog includes an introduction video, a quiz review, and a video about the midterm examination.

Pay attention to the Announcement Page, for I will update that information and links as the week progresses; this week's announcement page provides prompts and exam questions for the midterm exam available between Monday, July 2 , and Sunday, July 8.  

With respect to the midterm examination, take a look at responses from a previous year's Dystopian Fantastic class. The material differs; however, the method remains the same for both the prompts and the essay question.  In the Assignment Folder, you will also find identical responses to essay questions and prompts from the class--but over material this class does not cover. 

 
You will respond to 5 prompts (You will have a choice--either/or--for each of the five prompts) taken from the texts in paragraph form, at least seven to eight sentences for each.  And for part two, you will write an essay of around 2.5 pages.  

After the videos, which include a discussion of the midterm examination, you will find a list of prompts and exam questions for the Midterm.

 
In the following video,  I talk briefly about the novel for this week:

This video offers helps prepare you for this week's quiz over How I Live Now.

This video offers information about the midterm examination I recorded last spring; remember that you will not write on The Fifth Wave. In addition, I have changed the number of times you can return to Part One of the exam. Instead of having to complete your responses to the prompts in one sitting, you can return as many times as you like while the links remain open.

Remember that you respond in six to eight sentences to one of the choices given in each of the five prompts to which you return. If possible, you must respond to one prompt for at least three of the novels :

Midterm Examination Prompts (Part One) Between the start of the examination and its conclusion on Saturday, you can return to Part One of the examination as many times as you like. Matched: Final Banquet Dylan Thomas Artifacts Red, Blue, Green Pills Myth of Sisyphus Aberration Archivists Outer Provinces Ship Breaker Light Crew Sloth Harvesters Accelerated Age Pole Star Blood Buyers Red Ripper and Blood Rock Augments Orleans Surge Eve Califia Fletcher Marjorie City of Sand Arden Sows Dangers of Boys and Men class How I Live Now Aunt Penn Davina the Diabolical Dr. Jameson Reston Bridge Territorial Army Major McEvoy Jet Gateshead Lane  Midterm Exam Essay (Part Two) Write a 2.5 to 3 page (double spaced) essay on one of the following topics.  Remember that you want to avoid plot summary and put the matter into your own words:  to that end, do not cut and paste from the internet, for doing so will result in a grade of zero. Remember, too, that you want to offer analysis and not general comments or description:  do not retell the story (plot summary). Between Monday, July 2, and midnight Sunday, July 8, you can return to this part of the examination as many times as you like. Look over the exam essay examples provided for you in the Assignment Folder and on the web page. In your essay, remember that you have an argument to make.  Thus you want to make specific references to events in the narratives to support what you have to say.  In other words, provide examples by way of illustration and support for your assertions. Discuss the significance of the ambivalent role technology plays in Matched. In your essay, focus on the ambivalence of technology, especially in terms of how freedom gets curtailed for the comfort of security.  Think in terms of how what looks positive reveals negative circumstances in the novel that also bear upon contemporary society. Focusing on economics, write an essay on Ship Breaker.  Certainly what happens in Nailer’s world finds reflection in our own concerns with huge global corporations, ones that pretty much replace central government in this narrative.  Again, what happens in the novel in terms of how the economy words, you might argue, also find reflection in the contemporary issues, say, about wealth distribution and its consequences. Write an essay about how the invasion or the plague in How I Live Now or Eve; underscore the fragility of civilization and especially the threads that hold society together.  These threads remain pretty much invisible to us until, you might argue, something severs them, as in the sudden plague in Eve and terrorist attacks in How I Live Now. You will find that the vulnerabilities at play in these narratives find reflections in issues that concern us today. Each of the four novels presents an interesting and complex character.  Write an essay on Cassia, Eve, Nailer, or Daisy.  In your essay, reach conclusion about each of the characters and their specific conflicts in terms of the society in which they dwell.  Their conflicts relate directly to their experiences in the world they occupy, whether contemporary England tor the future worlds described in Matched or Ship Breaker. In the case of all four—and you will write your essay on only one of these characters—we can identify with the adolescents because in most respects they resemble familiar circumstances, whether the character rebels against authority or struggles with anorexia. Each of the character contends with conflicts in a world that differs greatly from our daily lives.