Worlds of Upheaval: English Extension

The modern Prometheus

subtitle or alternative title (Frankenstein)

The fallen angel becomes the malignant devil. Yet even the enemy of God and man had friends and associates in his desolation; I am alone

the creature's self-loathing demonstrates the importance of love and compassion and the effects of isolation (Frankenstein)

a country road [beside] a tree

the only description provided on the setting of the play (Waiting for Godot)

You deserve whatever I have left, which is not much but includes the truth

Atwood draws attention to the subjectivity of the truth (Handmaid's Tale)

Atwood's feminist concerns are plain here but so too are her concerns for basic human rights

Coral Holwells, significance of The Handmaid's Tale (Handmaid's Tale)

[Freder] Where are the people, father, whose hands built your city? [Fredersen] Where they belong

Fredersen's cruel statement showing he does not care about the workers (Metropolis)

Walton's reckless ambition and desire for glory are exactly the same as Frankenstein's

Janis Caldwell, on Victor and Walton as foils (Frankenstein)

I knew that established orders could vanish overnight. Change could also be as fast as lightning

Margaret Atwood on her experiences living through World War II and the Cold War (Handmaid's Tale)

Nothing in the book that didn't happen somewhere

Margaret Atwood's explanation that she drew from historical and current events when building her dystopia (Handmaid's Tale)

Look! These are your brothers

Maria says this to the schoolchildren when she brings them to the garden in the Club of the Sons, showing her idealism (Metropolis)

the mediator between the head and the hands must be the heart

Maria's message after the workers and the elite reach a compromise through her (Metropolis)

I hunger to touch something, other than cloth or wood. I hunger to commit the act of touch

Offred struggles to adjust to her new life, including with the denial of meaningful human interaction (Handmaid's Tale)

Don't let the bastards grind you down

Offred's mantra, left to her by the Handmaid who previously worked for the Commander (Handmaid's Tale)

merely to lift off the heavy white wings and the veil, merely to feel my own hair again is a luxury

Offred's relief when she takes off her veil shows the way that the Handmaids' uniforms are intended to eradicate individualism (Handmaid's Tale)

I'm a cloud, congealed around a central object, the shape of a pear, which is hard and more real than I am

Offred's thoughts as she sees her own naked body in the bath reveal how the Gildean regime has forced her to reduce herself to her reproductive ability (Handmaid's Tale)

They bicker, they embrace each other, they depend upon each other

Peter Boxall, how Vladimir and Estragon find solace within each other (Waiting for Godot)

Let the machines starve, you fools! Let them die!

Robot-Maria incites violence amongst the workers (Metropolis)

Friendship... is the negation of that irremediable solitude to which every human being is condemned

Samuel Beckett, importance of maintaining relationships with other people (Waiting for Godot)

seek happiness in tranquility and avoid ambition

Victor's parting words convey Shelley's didactic message (Frankenstein)

Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world

Victor's proclamation reveals his desire to usurp the role of god and take life into his own hands (Frankenstein)

the fall of a leaf startled me, and I shunned my fellow creatures as if I had been guilty of a crime

Victor's self-imposed isolation while he builds the creature is the beginning of his mental deterioration (Frankenstein)

They look long at each other, then suddenly embrace, clapping each other on the back. End of the embrace. Estragon, no longer supported, almost falls.

Vladimir and Estragon embrace (Waiting for Godot)

all mankind is us, whether we like it or not

Vladimir comments on the universal significance of the play's message (Waiting for Godot)

To treat a man like that... a human being... it's a scandal!

Vladimir's horror at the way Pozzo is abusing Lucky (Waiting for Godot)

the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart

after the creature is given life Victor realises his mistake (Frankenstein)

[Estragon] You're sure it was here? [Vladimir] What about Saturday? And is it Saturday?

characters being confused and distressed by their uncertainty, creating a general atmosphere of hopelessness (Waiting for Godot)

[Estragon] Well, shall we go? [Vladimir] Yes, let's go. They do not move

circular, meaningless and absurd back-and-forth conversation (Waiting for Godot)

the knuckled hills, the mangrove-swamps, the desert emptiness... in their sterile housing they tilt towards these like skiers

contrast between the natural features of the Australian landscape and the men flying on jets in body bags over the country

[Joh Fredersen] Where is my son? [The Thin Man] Tomorrow, thousands will ask in fury and desperation: Joh Fredersen, where is my son!

conversation between Fredersen and the Thin Man emphasising the suffering of the workers (Metropolis)

the noose adjusted delicately around her neck, like a vestment

description of an execution using ironic religious imagery (Handmaid's Tale)

the men like dolls... on one bag there's blood... like the mouths painted with thick brushes by kindergarten children. A child's idea of a smile

description of the men who have been hanged on the Wall using childlike imagery emphasising the dystopian reality (Handmaid's Tale)

they're picking them up... they're bringing them in... they're zipping them up... they're tagging them now... they're giving them names

description of the processes involved with taking the men's dead bodies back to Australia (Homecoming)

I desire the company of a man who could sympathise with me... I bitterly feel the want of a friend

in Walton's letters to his sister he expresses that he cannot tolerate the loneliness (Frankenstein)

on the long runways, the howl of their homecoming rises

ironic description of the planes landing in Australia (Homecoming)

I'll pretend you can hear me, but it's no good, because I know you can't

metafictive statement acknowledging the relationship between narrator and reader (Handmaid's Tale)

deep beneath the earth

on-screen text describing the workers' city (Metropolis)

they're bringing them home, now, too late, too early

oxymoron highlighting the bitterness and grief of the men's homecoming (Homecoming)

like scarecrows, which in a way is what they are, since they are meant to scare

shows that the public executions are a way to maintain fascist control of Gilead (Handmaid's Tale)