"Anthem" Annotation Activities and Notes

Today we reviewed chapter 1 of "Anthem" together in class and then proceeded into our annotation activities.

Now, "Anthem" is not a very long book, nor is the plot too complex. It is a relatively simple story on the surface. However, the author has left many things deliberately unexplained within the text. 

This intentionally vagueness is due to the perspective or point of view of the text. Since it is told from the first person point of view, we see the society through Equality's eyes. Equality has only ever known this society. In his heart, he believes his society tries to do the right thing, but he is beginning to see the cracks in the wall. He struggles to understand the seemingly unfair and contradictory actions of his government and society. 

For instance, consider this passage from chapter 1:

So we awaited our turn in the great hall and then we heard the Council of Vocations call our name: "Equality 7-2521." We walked to the dais, and our legs did not tremble, and we looked up at the Council. There were five members of the Council, three of the male gender and two of the female. Their hair was white and their faces were cracked as the clay of a dry river bed. They were old. They seemed older than the marble of the Temple of the World Council. They sat before us and they did not move. And we saw no breath to stir the folds of their white togas. But we knew that they were alive, for a finger of the hand of the oldest rose, pointed to us, and fell down again. This was the only thing which moved, for the lips of the oldest did not move as they said: "Street Sweeper."

And we looked straight into the eyes of the Council, but their eyes were as cold blue glass buttons.

Equality is witnessing reality and processing it for what it is at face value and what his society has told him to be true. But we see the society for what it really is: a kind of crazy, twisted collectivist disaster. So, Equality's observations about the Council of Vocations is strange. They do not breathe, they do not move their lips when they talk, their eyes look like glass buttons...

Almost as if they weren't alive at all!

Now, that sounds crazy, but what about this book hasn't had a touch of strangeness to it? 

Ultimately, we never will find out the true answer, so don't bother trying to skip ahead in the book to find out (although, if you want to read ahead, that would be fine! 😏)

The point is this: The author is giving us all the clues we need to see Equality's world for how it really is and how he really feels about it even when he can't admit it or see it himself. But we have to find it. 

And we can do that through annotating!

So, consider the notes from each class below:

The lovely drawings I did in the margin helped us to answer #4 about the effect that the use of colors have in the text. 

Color can have a strong influence on our emotion and thoughts considering how it interacts with our sense of smell and taste, both of which are strong memory triggers. Author's use it to subtly influence our mood and connect with us on an empathetic level (emotions and feelings). 

The fact that the color grey is used in the context of the house and is associated with dullness, boring, bland feelings and things that are considered typically unpleasant - smoke, dust, old, death - give us a hint as to how Equality feels when he is at home. He feels trapped, bored, worn out. 

But the colors blue and green are connected with the outdoors - the sky and the shadows outside - and are associated with more positive feelings like endlessness, freedom, happiness, and peace. When he is outside, he feels the possibility of growth and freedom. 

A few other points about this activity:

• Don't forget to answer in complete sentences, like I did in the examples above.
• When it asks you to justify your answer with support from the text, THAT MEANS YOU NEED TEXT EVIDENCE!
• The effect of the words isn't about how YOU feel, its what the use of those words tell  you about the characters, setting, or plot. 

Below is the annotation activity that is due at the end of class on Friday, February 9th. Students may work on it alone or with a partner. 

Just a quick note about this activity. The brain holds only 7 slots for short-term memory. In other words, if you mark seven different words or phrases in a text, your brain will remember why you marked those seven things for a short time. However, as soon as something else comes into your brain - your partner asks you a question, you remember a song you like, your phone buzzes and you wonder who texted you - one of those slots is automatically filled with something new and you have lost the previous thought. 

When you are annotating, just circling/highlighting/underlining the word isn't enough! Your brain can't hold all that intangible data! You should be writing notes off in the margin as to WHY you marked that word. What does it remind you of? What is it associated with? Was it confusing? Was it surprising? Even just one word notes to yourself will suffice. Trust me, it will help.

Finally, if you don't know what a word means, LOOK IT UP!