“The war was a heart-rending rollercoaster that took them from the greatest heights of hope to the lowest depths of shattered idealism” Matthew Wright compares war and a rollercoaster ride to show the emotional explosivity of war and demonstrating how they weren’t in control. The reader can more easily relate to a rollercoaster ride and […]

The most dramatic texts confront readers with a disturbing atmosphere. Dystopias are effective texts as they issue a warning to the reader. A disturbing atmosphere is the most effective “Show not tell” way of establishing the text is dystopian. “… a spiral of gritty dust, entering behind him.” As Winston enters the Victory Mansions, he […]

George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four really lay down the groundwork for dystopia that came after, such as Radiohead’s 3rd album “Ok computer”, Philip K. Dick’s novel “Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?”, later adapted into the 1982 movie classic “Blade Runner” and later “Blade Runner 2049”, and Anthony Burgess’ “A Clockwork Orange”. Although the setting is […]

This poem explores the change around us and coming to terms with this change. Owen Marshall uses word choice and metaphor to explore the concept of change. In the First Stanza the writer’s dad is nostalgic and takes his own children back to a setting in his childhood. “failed farm” and “Just split timber, calico […]

Grahame Sydney, in the text, “An Artist’s Childhood” effectively uses of word choice, casual misuse of language structure and humor to establish an atmosphere of amicability for the reader. “he would draw with a Black Beauty pencil in a Croxley Li-Flat spiral-bound sketch book.” This amount of specificity seems unnecessary but it makes the text […]

Author’s purpose category – Alienation, warning us. – If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever. Structure – plot turning points, perspective, structure of ideas, foreshadowing Setting quotes – Language – Newspeak “We’re destroying words — scores of them, hundreds of them, every day. We’re […]

Wagner, 22, was late for work, and his mother was 4 years overdue. He stomped his way down the gravel path separating the old golf course and the road. The golf course, more divot than grass, wasn’t maintained, nor was it repurposed. The old golf course was still known as “The Golf Course”, though it […]

Idea 2: ultra-violent VR. Enhanced reality where video games cause anti-social behaviour. Life being boring outside of this enhanced reality. Dead duck as a symbol. Greenhead Noah’s ark big boat city. No-one can have kids (maybe mass radiation poisoning). Greenland’s sea vault. Another dark age from chemicals released to reverse global warming. The coliseum is […]

Below the bridge was a dull grey mass of water. On the bridge itself, there marched guards in break-step. Inside the factory, men and women slaved away, feeding hungry furnaces. Out of the towering chimneys, columns of smoke spiral into the sky. The building, towering above the pedestrians was perturbing. Clauses: The street was empty, […]

Any and all history or sociology, you think you might have learnt from school has been laced with centrist ideas. We’re taught to fear an authoritarian state yet to follow the rules. And the sad thing is, parents are in on it. Parents today are knowingly sending their children to school where they’re molded into […]