“The novel 1984”
Choose only one of the following questions to write a 100-150 word post on, clearly indicating in your title and first sentence which of the four books you are writing about, and which of the four questions here you have chosen to answer:
1. How does the dystopian or post-apocalyptic world presented so far in your novel differ most from our present world?
2. With what element does your novels protagonist struggle the most about the lived reality of the dystopian or post-apocalyptic world they find themselves in?
3. What has changed the most about the human experience in the dystopian or post-apocalyptic world presented in your novel? What things about humanity have changed the least?
4. Based on what you have read so far, what do you predict will happen to your protagonist in the second half of your novel? Make sure to base your response on information you already know about your character, using it to make an educated guess about where their motivations, feelings, and experience might take them. (Please avoid spoilers if youve read ahead or are commenting on a post about a novel that you have read).
Consider each of the following questions, and write a response for each of them. For each written response, do a 75- to 100-word quick-write.
1. Thinking about your time in the world of your novel, what kinds of feelings did you find to be most prevalent as you read? How convincing or realistic did you find the experiences and actions of your books main character(s), and what might you have done differently?
2. Did you find your novel to be ultimately hopeful in its rendering of the human condition? What were some of the most impactful moments for you in thinking about what it means to be human? Use quotations if possible.
3. Do you think your novel was successful at avoiding the problem of aiming merely at apocalypse? Were the solipsistic elements of the central protagonist in your book impactful enough to overcome this?
4. How has your novel changed the way you now look at the world? What things will you never be able to look at in the same way ever again?
