Brave New World/1984 intro- Power of the powerless
Our deepest fear is...
Brave New World/1984 -An introduction to power of the powerless
Lesduur is: 50 minOnderdelen in deze les
Our deepest fear is...
Brave New World/1984 -An introduction to power of the powerless
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness
That most frightens us.
We ask ourselves
Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small
Does not serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking
So that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine,
As children do.
We were born to make manifest
The glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us;
It's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
We unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we're liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.
Marianne Williamson
You will study Mark Carney's 2026 Davos address and you will study The Power of the Powerless by Vaclav Havel. In doing so you will learn:
What the opposite is of totalitarianism.
Important vocabulary which will enable you to discuss power dynamics.
How the power dynamics work in our world so you can relate this knowledge to 1984 while you are reading the book.
Mark Carney, prime minister of Canada on power and powerlessness.
Watch his special address at the 2026 World economic forum in Davos to get a general sense of what the speech is about.
Viewing assignment 1
Words, words, words
Take a look at the transcript of Mark Carney's speech. Write down any words which you don't know, words which are hard.
If there are no words with which you are not familiar write down words which you think will be useful.
Viewing assignment 2
Mark Carney, prime minister of Canada on power and powerlessness.
Watch his special address at the 2026 World economic forum in Davos and answer the viewing questions.
Vaclav Havel's Power of the Powerless
Make a sign for your window
-With the two of you you have been given a country. In this country you are a greengrocer. You need a sign in your window to signal complaince.
-research your country online for 20 minutes. Take notes.
-Close your laptops. Make the sign. Also write a 200-300 word explanation on the back of the sign. In it you explain why the sign is as it is. (50 minutes)
Show your sign to the class and explain the contents of your sign to the class. (20 minutes)
while reading class 1
Discuss
Winston’s work at the Ministry of Truth.
Exploration of language control through Newspeak.
Syme and his probable fate.
Post truth
In 2016, the world changed. As Trump took the White House, Britain voted for Brexit and populism swept across Europe, people took to talking anxiously about the upheavals of the 1970s and, worse, the 1930s. Bookshop shelves began filling up with titles such as How Democracy Ends, The Road to Unfreedom and The Death of Truth.
1984 and our world today
Read the article Nothing but the truth: the legacy of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Fourand compare it to what you have read so far.
