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Unit 1 Assessment

This assessment will show your understanding of the fundamentals of dystopian societies and the skills

we have learned.

Part 1: Vocabulary in Context

1. What does the word subversive mean in this line from “The Censors”?

“These were horrible days when he was shocked by the subtle and conniving

ways employed by people to pass on subversive messages.”

a. Negative

b. Cautious

c. Sneaky

d. Ignorant

2. Which word from the lines of text in Part 1 best helps the reader understand the meaning of

subversive?

a. Horrible

b. Conniving

c. Shocked

d. Messages

3. What does the word perfunctory mean in this line from “The Lottery”?

“…at one time, some people remembered, there had been a recital of some sort performed by

the official of the lottery, a perfunctory, tuneless chant that had been rattled off duly each

year…”

a. Meaningless and without reflection

b. Mandatory and important

c. Honorable and appropriate

d. Exultant and jubilant

4. Which word from the lines of text in Part 3 helps the reader understand the meaning of

perfunctory?

a. Tuneless

b. Duly rattled off

c. Official

d. Recital

5. Tessie in “The Lottery” is considered a scapegoat for the community. Scapegoat most clearly

means:

a. One who is the object of purposeful hostility

b. One who is lost from the herd

c. One who bares the blame for others

d. Both a and c

e. Both a and b

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6. What other characters are considered scapegoats from the texts we have read so far?

a. Harrison because he is an innocent who was killed

b. Juan because he is killed for helping to protect a broken system

c. Katniss because she rebels against the government

d. Wall-e because he brings happiness back to the people in his community

7. What does the word inextricably mean in this line from “I Have a Dream”?

“They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.”

a. Unable to be separated

b. Unexplainable

c. Limiting

d. Fundamental

8. What is the significance of the ship in WALL-E being named The Axiom?

a. It shows the humans’ innate capability to reason because of its relationship to logic

b. It plays on the fact that the robots are basically rational, mathematical creatures and

this is where they belong—not the humans

c. An axiom is something that doesn’t have to be proven; it is understood to be true just as

life on the ship is simply accepted

d. It pertains to proofs and shows that the humans are looking for ways to solve the

problem of being trapped on a ship forever

9. What does the word neutraling mean in this line from “Harrison Bergeron”?

“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.”

a. Cancelling out

b. Protesting

c. Fighting

d. Celebrating

10. What does the word ulterior mean in this line from “The Censors”?

“Ulterior motives couldn’t be overlooked by the Censorship Division, but they needn’t be too strict

with those who applied.”

a. Overlooked

b. Hidden

c. Evil

d. Dangerous

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Part 2: Literary Analysis

1. Which of the following sentences best states the author’s purpose in “The Censors”?

a. People who are devoted to getting ahead in their careers are at risk of compromising their own

beliefs and happiness.

b. People should never try to outsmart a government because it will always be one step ahead.

c. People should pay more attention to friends and family.

d. People should not get worked up over hypothetical situations that may or may not occur.

2. Select three pieces of evidence from “The Censors” that support your answer to Question 1.

a. “One day they caught him with his guard down before he could even realize that what he had

taken as a stroke of luck was really one of fate’s dirty tricks.”

b. “Juan knows there won’t be a problem with his letter’s contents”

c. “Things happen the minute you are careless, as one often is.”

d. “Ulterior motives couldn’t be overlooked by the Censorship Division.”

e. “He reported the man to his superiors and got promoted.”

f. “He was about to congratulate himself for having finally discovered his true mission, when his

letter to Mariana reached his hands.”

g. “Another victim of his devotion to his work.”

3. Which of the following sentences best states the main purpose in Vonnegut’s using handicaps in

“Harrison Bergeron”?

a. Handicaps are used in order for the government to control all of the citizens.

b. Handicaps are used to ensure that the Handicapper General is the most powerful person.

c. Handicaps are used in order to dehumanize the masses.

d. Handicaps are used to create equality among the citizens.

4. Select three pieces of evidence from “Harrison Bergeron” that support the answer to Part 3.

a. “Some things about living still weren’t quite right, though.”

b. “They weren’t only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way.”

c. “All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to

the unceasing vigilance of the agents of the United States Handicapper General.”

d. “The transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair

advantage of their brains.”

e. “Pretty soon we’d be right back to the dark ages again, with everybody competing against

everybody else.”

f. “Now watch me become what I can become.”

g. “I don’t care if you’re not equal to me for a while.”

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6. Despite being a love story, Wall-E is a unique story in the sense that the gender roles are reversed

between Wall-E and Eve and John and Mary. Select three pieces of evidence that support this

observation.

a. Eve is more technologically advanced than Wall-E.

b. Mary tells John, “Get ready to have some kids” as she saves the babies on the tilted ship.

c. Wall-E is well-equipped for domestic work whereas Eve has powerful weapons.

d. Wall-E is injured and must be saved by Eve.

e. Wall-E heroically rescues the plant from the damaged ship.

f. Wall-E is box shaped and Eve is round.

g. Wall-E is a naïve, hopeless romantic.

7. “Harrison Bergeron” and “I Have a Dream” both encompass themes of equality for all people.

Choose three other ways the texts are similar.

a. Both Martin Luther King, Jr. and Harrison speak out against a powerful authority.

b. Both reference God in order to prove that equality is a basic right.

c. Both Harrison and MLK are fighting for the rights of the masses.

d. Both Harrison and MLK are outcasts in their own societies.

e. Both Harrison and MLK are fighting for multiple rights for multiple groups of people.

f. Both Harrison and MLK have an audience which is not willing or able to see the problem.

8. The quest for progress and perfection has a relationship that is woven into most dystopias. Choose

three pieces of evidence from the text which demonstrate this observation.

a. “Next thing you know, they’ll be wanting to go back to living in caves.”

b. “As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.”

c. “You don’t form a habit by doing something once.”

d. "If I tried to get away with it," said George, "then other people'd get away with it-and 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?"

e. In Wall-E, the title character is left to clean up the byproducts of Human progress and

convenience.

9. Which of the following is not a characteristic of a complex character?

a. He has to change in the story because of his actions or circumstances

b. He has a cause or ideal against which he struggles

c. He has a variety of traits and different aspects to his personality

d. He has significant interactions with other characters

10. Which definition describes an explicit character trait?

a. The author/creator explains something that you need to know about a character through

description and situation

b. The author/creator shows something that you need to know about a character through the

character’s interactions and actions

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For questions 11-12, please state one implicit characteristic of each of the characters and explain how

you know from the text.

11. Harrison__________________________________________________________________________

a. Because________________________________________________________________________

12. Tessie_____________________________________________________________________________

a. Because________________________________________________________________________

For questions 13-16, please provide descriptions of the major dystopian archetypes using examples of

characters from the texts we’ve studied.

13. Soldier____________________________________________________________________________

a. Because______________________________________________________________________

14. Loyal Citizen_______________________________________________________________________

a. Because______________________________________________________________________

15. Rebel_____________________________________________________________________________

a. Because______________________________________________________________________

16. Government Official_________________________________________________________________

a. Because______________________________________________________________________

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For questions 17-22, please provide descriptions of these fundamental literary terms using examples from the texts we’ve studied.

17. Symbol____________________________________________________________________________

a. How does this help convey a theme/concept in the work?________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

18. Theme____________________________________________________________________________

19. Person vs. Person___________________________________________________________________

20. Person vs. Society___________________________________________________________________

21. Person vs. Self______________________________________________________________________

22. Allusion___________________________________________________________________________

a. How does this help convey a theme/concept in the work?________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

For questions 23-27, please draw and label a plot chart for one of the texts we covered in the space

provided below.

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Short Answer (2-3 sentences)

28. Which one of the texts we studied in this unit do you believe best exemplifies a dystopian society?

Explain.

29. Which one of the text we studied in this unit do you find to carry the most important message for

humanity? Explain.

Part 3: Informational Texts

1. MLK’s central idea in “I Have a Dream” is…

a. Everyone deserves to be equal because of religious reasons

b. White people cannot fully understand the injustice of segregation

c. Our country would be better if everyone were treated as equal

d. Injustice must be defeated by any means necessary

2. He supports this central theme with the following three main points:

a. “The Emancipation Proclamation and Declaration of Independence were supposed to

guarantee equality.”

b. “In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds.”

c. “The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright

day of justice emerges.”

d. “We cannot walk alone.”

e. “But we refuse to believe that [America’s] bank of justice is bankrupt.”

f. “Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God’s children.”

g. “This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning [My

Country ‘Tis of Thee]. And if America is to be a great nation this must become true.”

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3. Sherry Turkle’s purpose in her TEDTalk is:

a. To inform

b. To persuade

c. To tell a story

d. To compare and contrast

4. The central idea in Turkle’s “Connected but Alone” is:

a. We are in danger of losing the ability and desire to connect with each other meaningfully

which would lead to a loss of humanity.

b. Even engaging digital lives cannot replace the basic need for genuine, personal

conversations.

c. A lack of communication skills can be harmful for businesses because the workers don’t

collaborate.

d. We cannot have genuine connection without face-to-face communications because we are

able to be different people online and through texting.

5. Three examples of how she advances that purpose are:

a. “Connecting in sips may work for gathering discreet bits of information, they may work for

saying, ‘I'm thinking about you,’ or even for saying, ‘I love you,’…but they don't really

work for learning about each other, for really coming to know and understand each other.

b. “Texting, email, posting, all of these things let us present the self as we want to be. We

get to edit, and that means we get to delete, and that means we get to retouch, the face,

the voice, the flesh, the body -- not too little, not too much, just right.”

c. “…[W]e use conversations with each other to learn how to have conversations with

ourselves. So a flight from conversation can really matter because it can compromise our

capacity for self-reflection.”

d. “Human relationships are rich and they're messy and they're demanding. And we clean

them up with technology. And when we do, one of the things that can happen is that we

sacrifice conversation for mere connection. We short-change ourselves. And over

time, we seem to forget this, or we seem to stop caring.”

e. “…[T]he feeling that no one is listening to us make us want to spend time with machines

that seem to care about us.”

f. “[W]e all really need to listen to each other, including to the boring bits. Because it's

when we stumble or hesitate or lose our words that we reveal ourselves to each other.”

g. “[A businessman] says he doesn't want to interrupt his colleagues because, "They're too

busy on their email." But then he stops himself and he says, "You know, I'm not telling

you the truth. I'm the one who doesn't want to be interrupted. I think I should want to, but

actually I'd rather just do things on my Blackberry."

Part 4: Other

Ethos, Pathos, Logos

1. _______________ primarily uses data, science, research, etc. to persuade.

2. _______________ primarily relies on the expertise and character of the speaker and source.

3. _______________ primarily relies on emotion to persuade.

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4. Which of the following is an example of ethos?

a. “If you don’t give to this cause, these children will continue to suffer hunger daily.”

b. “We’ve been handling workman’s compensation cases for over 50 years.”

c. “Our planes are designed with speed in mind and are guaranteed to be 85% more efficient than

our competition.”

5. Which of the following is an example of logos?

a. “Google Drive is the best innovation for business and education because of its versatility,

usability and accessibility.”

b. “Your children rely on you to keep them safe on the road.”

c. “Research shows that people who are overweight during their childhood and teenage years are

far more likely to develop long-term, crippling disabilities as adults,” said Dr. Moira Taggart of

the Mayo Clinic’s research department.

Question Classifications—Identify the classification of each of the following questions

1. ___________________ How does the use of the word “handicaps” affect a reader’s perspective on

the story?

2. ___________________ What are the major themes of the text?

3. ___________________ What is the importance of the fact that the men are the ones to draw for

their households in “The Lottery”?

4. ___________________Explain how WALL-E parallels the Prometheus myth and discuss the symbols

that help form a visual connection.

Connotative and Denotative Words

1. Define connotative__________________________________________________________________

2. Define denotative___________________________________________________________________

3. Why would an author/speaker use a word connotatively?___________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

4. Use the word sticky denotatively in a sentence. ___________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

5. Use the word sticky connotatively in a sentence. __________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

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Part 3: Expository Writing

For questions 1-5, please write a thesis statement responding to the prompts.

1. Would Harrison’s society have been better if he had been in charge?

2. Compare how one central dystopian theme is presented and developed in two or more texts we

studied in this unit.

3. Explain why dystopia is an important genre to study.

4. Is a dystopian society inevitable or can it be prevented?

5. Explain the relationship between progress and a dystopian society.

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For questions 6-8, please write the quote introduction for the given idea and quotation.

6. Idea: Harrison is power hungry

Quotation: “I am the Emporer! Everybody must do what I say at once!”

Citation: (Vonnegut)

7. Idea: Juan is easily swayed.

Quotation: “One doesn’t form a habit by doing something once.”

Citation: (Valenzuela)

8. Idea: The villagers in the Lottery are naturally brutal.

Quotation: “Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still

remembered to use stones.”

Citation: (Jackson)

Bonus: What is your favorite of the texts we have studied in this unit and why?

Bonus: What does a nosey pepper do?

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Part 3: Informative Essay

As part of this unit, you have read several fiction and nonfiction portrayals of dystopias. The works

covered include:

“The Censors”

“Harrison Bergeron”

“The Lottery”

“Wall-E”

PROMPT: Write an informative essay comparing how one central dystopian concept is presented and

developed throughout two or more texts studied in this unit. Be sure to cite strong and specific

evidence from your chosen texts to support your explanation. Follow the conventions of standard

written English and maintain a formal style by staying away from first and second person.

Your informative essay should be one to two handwritten pages in length and should be written for an

audience who is familiar with the texts and the classifications of dystopias. Develop and organize your

essay so that it is easy to follow. Begin by introducing which texts will be explored and establish a clear

and precise thesis statement.

Your essay will mainly be evaluated based on the presence of an effective thesis statement, your ability

to compare texts using a common theme and your use of evidence to support your thesis. Your style and

grammar and mechanics will be evaluated as well.