Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Chrysalids exam (essay) tomorrow. Here is what you need to know.

What you need to know:

· All of the five Ws (who, what, where, when, why)
o Names (first and last)
o What refers to the situation they are in (including context)
o Where refers to the geographical location of the town as well as where they are located in the world… including the other places mentioned and the distances.
o When refers to the historical time between the nuclear war and the “present” time they are in.
o The Why is about what happened (obviously) in relation to the war… but we don’t really know too much about this, so we have to focus on “other” whys…
§ Why does she have different feet?
§ Why does she have to hide it?
§ Why do they send those with deviations away?
§ How important is conformity in a society?
§ Why can’t those with differences be allowed to communicate?
§ How is Petra different from the other telepaths? How do these differences impact the group as a whole?
§ How importance is acceptance in a society?
§ How influential is power in maintaining or changing a society?
§ What influence does the notion of personal freedom have on the strength of a society?
§ How influential is family in the development of beliefs?
§ What impact can jealousy have on the decisions one makes?
§ Why are those with differences treated negatively?
§ Religion and power are closely tied in this story. How is religion altered to meet the needs of those in power?
§ Cruelty is present in this novel and is often used to control those in weaker positions. Does this cruelty strengthen or weaken the society as a whole? Explain.
§ This society seems to revolve around superstitions. How much of an impact do these have on the way the society deals with differences?
§ The methods used to control the society change over time. Why might this have occurred? Do the changes positively or negatively affect the society as a whole?
§ We are introduced to four societies in this novel. How do they compare? Is any society superior to any other?
§ What do we learn about society from this novel?
§ What do we learn about conventions from this novel? (conventions are unwritten rules or norms of a society)