UNFINISHED Wider Reading - Texts and Quotes

‘The Time Machine’

Author?

Year published?

H.G. Wells

1895

‘The Time Machine’

Summary?

Themes/ideas explored?

A Victorian scientist travels 800,000 years into the future, encountering the Eloi (small, delicate humans who live above the ground in leisure and simplicity - appear peaceful but are actually physically frail and intellectually limited) and Morlocks (ape-like subterranean creatures who maintain the machinery and prey upon the Eloi at night)

Evolution, class division, social inequality, societal decay, potential consequences of human complacency and human destiny

‘Brave New World’

Author?

Year published?

Aldous Huxley

1932

‘Brave New World’

Summary?

Themes/ideas explored?

Set in a highly industrialised World State where natural birth is obsolete. Humans are genetically engineered; they are created in hatcheries and assigned to one of five castes - Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon. Through genetic manipulation and chemical conditioning, this ensures that each individual fits their predetermined social rule and enjoys their assigned life. They use the drug soma to escape discomfort, eliminating deep emotions and personal attachments.

Sacrifice of human emotion, creativity and personal freedom for the sake of order, pleasure and efficiency. Highlights tension between happiness imposed by control and authentic human experience

‘Fahrenheit 451’

Author?

Year published?

Ray Bradbury

1953

‘Fahrenheit 451’

Summary?

Themes/ideas explored?

google ‘summary of fahrenheit 451’

‘The Drowned World’

Author?

Year published?

J.G. Ballard

1962

‘A Clockwork Orange’

Author?

Year published?

Anthony Burgress

1962

‘Slaughterhouse-Five’

Author?

Year published?

Kurt Vonnegut

1969

‘The Children of Men’

Author?

Year published?

P.D. James

1992

‘Parable of the Sower’

Author?

Year published?

Octavia E. Butler

1993

‘The Road’

Author?

Year published?

Cormac McCarthy

2006

‘The Hunger Games’

Author?

Year published?