Woodbridge Township School District
Dear Students,
Summer Reading Entering 8th Grade Honors
As we approach the end of the school year, it is time to start thinking about the pleasures of summer reading. The purpose of the summer reading program is to encourage the enjoyment of reading and the development of our students’ independent reading skills. All students entering sixth, seventh, and eighth grade will read at least one novel. All reading and corresponding assignments will be completed prior to the first day of school in September. Please refer to the attached instructions and rubric for further clarification and expectations. The summer reading assignment will count as a minor assessment grade per assignment. However, during the first few weeks of school, teachers will use the respective books during class as a vehicle to introduce key literary concepts, and students may be required to complete additional assignments at that time. We encourage students to visit local bookstores and public libraries in order to find their books. Students may also go online to purchase their books. Happy reading! John Bader Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Sarah DeRollo Supervisor of English Grades 6-12 and Media Centers District Test Coordinator
Entering 8th Grade Honors Summer Reading Assignment Required Fiction: Orwell, George. Animal Farm. New York: Penguin, 1946. Required Non‐Fiction: “A Brief History of the Russian Revolution (1917)” Animal Farm Character Chart Assignment Read “A Brief History of the Russian Revolution (1917)” and then read the novel, Animal Farm. After reading, write responses to the quote prompts below answering how the quote directly relates to Animal Farm. Your answer should be written in complete sentences, and the prompt stem should be written into your answer. Each answer must include at least 2 pieces of textual evidence, and you may not use the same evidence twice. “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” ‐‐George Santayana “What experience and history teach is this—that people and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it.” ‐‐G.W.G. Hegel “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Lord Acton “In general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one class of people to give it to the other.” ‐‐Voltaire All responses will be scored on use of textual evidence, depth of explanations, and proper usage and mechanics.
Animal Farm Chart Comparison of characters to Russian Revolution
Animal Farm Mr. Jones ● ● ●
irresponsible to his animals (lets them starve) sometimes cruel - beats them with whip sometimes kind - mixes milk in animal mash
Old Major ● ● ●
taught Animalism workers do the work, rich keep the $, animals revolt dies before revolution
Animalism ● ● ●
no owners, no rich, but no poor workers get a better life, all animals equal everyone owns the farm
Snowball ● ● ● ●
young, smart, good speaker, idealistic really wants to make life better for all one of leaders of revolution chased away into exile by Napoleon's dogs
Napoleon ● ● ● ●
not a good speaker, not as clever like Snowball cruel, brutal, selfish, devious, corrupt his ambition is for power, killed opponents used dogs, moses, and Squealor to control animals
Squealer ● ●
1
big mouth, talks a lot convinces animals to
Russian Revolution Czar Nicholas II ● ● ●
a poor leader at best, compared to western kings cruel - sometimes brutal with opponents Sometimes kind - hired students as spies to make $
Karl Marx ● ● ●
invented Communism "workers of the world unite", take over gov't dies before Russian Revolution
Communism ● ● ●
same all people equal gov't owns everything, people own gov't
Leon Trotsky ● ● ● ●
other leader of "October Revolution" pure communist, followed Marx wanted to improve life for all in Russia chased away by Lenin's KGB (Lenin's secret police)
Joseph Stalin ● ● ● ●
not a good speaker, not educated like Trotsky same as Napoleon, didn't follow Marx's ideas cared for power, killed all that opposed him used KGB, allowed church, and propagandized
Propaganda department of Lenin's government ●
worked for Stalin to support
●
believe and follow Napoleon Changes and manipulates the commandments
● ●
The Dogs ●
● ●
a private army that used fear to force animals to work killed or intimidated any opponent of Napoleon another part of Napoleon's strategy to control animals
Moses the Raven ●
● ● ● ●
●
tells animals about SugarCandy mountain Heaven animals can go there if they work hard Snowball and Major were against him they though Heaven was a lie to make animals work Napoleon let him stay because he taught animals to work and not complain
Mollie ● ● ●
was vain - loved her beauty and self didn't think about the animal farm went with anyone who gave her what she wanted
Boxer ● ● ●
strong, hard working horse, believes in Animal Farm "Napoleon is always right", "I must work harder" gives his all, is betrayed by Napoleon, who sells him
Benjamin ●
1
old, wise donkey who is
his image used any lie to convince the people to follow Stalin benefited from the fact that education was controlled
KGB - Secret Police ● ●
●
not really police, but forced support for Stalin used force, often killed entire families for disobedience totally loyal, part of Lenin's power, even over army
Religion ● ● ● ●
Marx said "Opiate of the people" a lie used to make people not complain and do their work Religion was tolerared because people would work Stalin knew religion would stop violent revolutions
Vain, selfish people in Russia and world ● ● ●
some people didn't care about revolution only though about themselves went to other countries that offered more for them
Dedicated, but tricked communist supporters ●
● ●
people believed Stalin because he was "Communist" many stayed loyal after it was obvious Stalin a tyrant betrayed by Stalin who ignored and killed them
Skeptical people in Russia and outside Russia
● ●
suspicious of revolution thinks "nothing ever changes", is right his suspicions are true, about Boxer and sign changes
● ● ● ●
Overall details about revolution ● ● ● ●
1
it was to make life better for all life was worse at the end The leaders became the same as, or worse than, the humans they rebelled against
weren't sure revolution would change anything realized that a crazy leader can call himself communist knew that communism wouldn't work with power hungry leaders
Overall details of Russian Revolution ● ● ●
supposed to fix problems from Czar life was even worse long after revolution Stalin made Czar look like a nice guy
A Brief History of the Russian Revolution (1917) capitalist system free enterprise; if you work hard you can get ahead; you can start your own business and become a millionaire, or lose every penny socialist complete and total economic euality communist system everyone works to his or her ability and receives according to his or her need; totally economic equality; no one gets ahead, but no one starves either. Czarist government a government ruled by a Czar, who had absolute powers similar to a king Deported sent away from a country into exile Idealistic overly optimistic thinking Totalitarianism a onepartyruleseverything type of government In the mid 1800’s , the capitalist system was going strong in Europe and America. But , the profits of businesses came at the expense of workers who labored 14 to 18 hours a day under unsafe conditions. There were no child labor laws, and wages were barely livable for the common worker. In 1847 , an international workers’ group asked Karl Marx, a German philosopher, to draw up a plan for their organization. The group was called the Communist League. Marx wrote a plan called The Manifesto of the Communist Party. Marx envisioned a workers’ revolt followed by a kind of paradise where each person would work according to his or her ability and receive according to his or her need. Marx saw the final stage of his communist system being total worldwide economic equality. About this time, labor laws were passed in Western Europe and America that made the work place safer and more tolerable of workers. The worldwide revolution that Marx foresaw never came to pass. The people that followed Marx’s thinking were called Socialists. The Socialists split into two groups. The milder group wanted to bring about communism slowly by passing new laws. The other group (we’ll call them Communists) stuck to Marx’s original idea of a major worker revolt. The Communists were a small extremist group compared to the total number of Socialists. They formed a political party called the Bolshevik Party , which was led by a man named Nikolai Lenin . Russia at this time was being poorly managed by a Czarist government, ruled by Czar Nicholas II . Most of the Russian people were still underpaid workers on land owned by a small number of wealthy landlords. In 1917 a revolution occurred in Russia. The Bolshevik Party successfully overthrew Czar Nicholas II. Besides Lenin, there were two other men who were leaders in the Bolshevik party: Leon Trotsky , a man who believed in using terrorism, and Joseph Stalin , a strong ruthless man. In 1926, Lenin died, and there was a power struggle between Trotsky and Stalin. Stalin gained control and Trotsky went to Mexico and was later assassinated. As the new
Russian leader, Stalin deported to Siberia all those who did not agree with him. His secret police also used random arrests, torture, and mass executions to maintain his dictatorship. Anyone could be a victim of these killings, or “purges” for no apparent reason. The idealistic goals of Marx, had turned into a system that was in many ways more terrifying than the rule by the Czars. There was no freedom in the new system, which was based on military rule. Forced labor created wealth for a limited few, while the lives of most people changed very little or got worse. Terrorist police prevented uprisings by unhappy people. The communist type of government that came about after the revolution in 1917 was “totalitarian”. Totalitarianism is when one party or group has total control of everything.
