In the slides, I brought up Justice Antonin Scalia’s use of “Harrison Bergeron” in a dissenting Supreme Court opinion.  Vonnegut is among the most quotable of 20^th-century authors in English, dispensing quips, aphorisms, and confusing proverbs about the modern human condition.  His genius is for simple, compressed phrasing that exposes depths of contradiction, joy, pain, or confusion:

Here’s an example:  “One of the few good things about modern times: If you die horribly on television, you will not have died in vain. You will have entertained us.”

How is this quotation relevant either to “Harrison Bergeron” or “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow”? How do these stories see television and its social impact?

Or, if you prefer, how does the quotation shed light on an actual and widely televised death that “entertained us” in recent years?  Perhaps some of the truth(s) in Vonnegut’s comment are proven by how often we see people dying on our screens. 

In the slides, I brought up Justice Antonin Scalia’s use of “Harrison Bergeron” in a dissenting Supreme Court opinion.  Vonnegut is among the most quotable of 20^th-century authors in English, dispensing quips, aphorisms, and confusing proverbs about the modern human condition.  His genius is for simple, compressed phrasing that exposes depths of contradiction, joy, pain, or confusion:

Here’s an example:  “One of the few good things about modern times: If you die horribly on television, you will not have died in vain. You will have entertained us.”

How is this quotation relevant either to “Harrison Bergeron” or “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow”? How do these stories see television and its social impact?

Or, if you prefer, how does the quotation shed light on an actual and widely televised death that “entertained us” in recent years?  Perhaps some of the truth(s) in Vonnegut’s comment are proven by how often we see people dying on our screens. 

Watch “Duck and Cover,” a nine-minute Civil Defense film from the 1950s, embedded below.  How would you compare its treatment of potential nuclear annihilation to the treatment in Strangelove? 

Watch “Duck and Cover,” a nine-minute Civil Defense film from the 1950s, embedded below.  How would you compare its treatment of potential nuclear annihilation to the treatment in Strangelove? 

Watch “Duck and Cover,” a nine-minute Civil Defense film from the 1950s, embedded below.  How would you compare its treatment of potential nuclear annihilation to the treatment in Strangelove? 

Watch “Duck and Cover,” a nine-minute Civil Defense film from the 1950s, embedded below.  How would you compare its treatment of potential nuclear annihilation to the treatment in Strangelove? 

“Dad’s like a kid again when Bill and Bobby bring out their construction set. And Mom and Betty can’t resist a little “experting” on the sidelines. At all family affairs 7 up is a welcome part of everybody’s fun. 7-Up the all family drink-is a good friend of youngest and oldest alike. Be a fresh family…every member can be a 7 Up steady.” Vintage 7-Up advertisement 1949 (Ad from envisioningtheamericandream.com)

In the slides, I suggest that while Bradbury’s book attacks intellectual and social conformity, Fahrenheit 451 also gives us a complicated vision of the idealized nuclear family of the 1950s.  In what way, if any, does the novel seem to welcome the vision of family in this 7 up ad?  In what ways might Bradbury find the ad appalling? You don’t have to discuss everything about the family pictured, just one or two details.

“Dad’s like a kid again when Bill and Bobby bring out their construction set. And Mom and Betty can’t resist a little “experting” on the sidelines. At all family affairs 7 up is a welcome part of everybody’s fun. 7-Up the all family drink-is a good friend of youngest and oldest alike. Be a fresh family…every member can be a 7 Up steady.” Vintage 7-Up advertisement 1949 (Ad from envisioningtheamericandream.com)

In the slides, I suggest that while Bradbury’s book attacks intellectual and social conformity, Fahrenheit 451 also gives us a complicated vision of the idealized nuclear family of the 1950s.  In what way, if any, does the novel seem to welcome the vision of family in this 7 up ad?  In what ways might Bradbury find the ad appalling? You don’t have to discuss everything about the family pictured, just one or two details.

“Dad’s like a kid again when Bill and Bobby bring out their construction set. And Mom and Betty can’t resist a little “experting” on the sidelines. At all family affairs 7 up is a welcome part of everybody’s fun. 7-Up the all family drink-is a good friend of youngest and oldest alike. Be a fresh family…every member can be a 7 Up steady.” Vintage 7-Up advertisement 1949 (Ad from envisioningtheamericandream.com)

In the slides, I suggest that while Bradbury’s book attacks intellectual and social conformity, Fahrenheit 451 also gives us a complicated vision of the idealized nuclear family of the 1950s.  In what way, if any, does the novel seem to welcome the vision of family in this 7 up ad?  In what ways might Bradbury find the ad appalling? You don’t have to discuss everything about the family pictured, just one or two details.

“Dad’s like a kid again when Bill and Bobby bring out their construction set. And Mom and Betty can’t resist a little “experting” on the sidelines. At all family affairs 7 up is a welcome part of everybody’s fun. 7-Up the all family drink-is a good friend of youngest and oldest alike. Be a fresh family…every member can be a 7 Up steady.” Vintage 7-Up advertisement 1949 (Ad from envisioningtheamericandream.com)

In the slides, I suggest that while Bradbury’s book attacks intellectual and social conformity, Fahrenheit 451 also gives us a complicated vision of the idealized nuclear family of the 1950s.  In what way, if any, does the novel seem to welcome the vision of family in this 7 up ad?  In what ways might Bradbury find the ad appalling? You don’t have to discuss everything about the family pictured, just one or two details.