The Iron Heel Study Guide

The Iron Heel Study Guide The Iron Heel  is an early dystopian novel published in 1908 by Jack London. London is best known for his man-against-nature novels like  The Call of the Wild  and  White Fang, so  The Iron Heel  is often  considered a departure from his usual output.   The Iron Heel  is written from the first-person perspective of a female protagonist, and  it includes a  presentation of London’s socialist political ideals, both of which were unusual for its time. The book addresses Londons belief that unionized labor and socialist political movements would rise to challenge the traditional capitalist power base. Later writers such as George Orwell often explicitly mention The Iron Heel as an influence on their own works. Plot The novel begins with a foreword written by Anthony Meredith in the 419 BOM (Brotherhood of Man), approximately the 27th century. Meredith discusses the Everhard Manuscript as a historical document, composed by Avis Everhard and describing the events of 1912 through 1932. Meredith warns that the manuscript is riddled with errors of fact, but insists on its value as a firsthand account of those â€Å"terrible times.† Meredith notes that the manuscript, written by Avis Everhard, cannot be considered objective because she is writing about her own husband and was herself too close to the events to have objectivity. In the Everhard Manuscript proper, Avis describes meeting her future husband, socialist activist Ernest Everhard. She finds him poorly groomed, self-righteous, and irritating. Ernest argues that the American system of economics is based on the abuse and poor treatment (in other words, the exploitation) of labor, and that the ordinary workers who keep everything going suffer terribly. Avis initially does not agree, but later she conducts her own investigation of Ernest’s claims and is shocked to discover she   concurs with his assessment. As Avis becomes close to Ernest, her father and a family friend (Dr. John Cunningham and Bishop Moorehouse) also begin to agree with his ideas. All four key characters begin to work for the socialist causes. As a result, the oligarchs who own and run the country under the guise of capitalism and democracy move to ruin them all. Dr. Cunningham loses his teaching job and his home. Bishop Moorehouse is found to be clinically insane and is committed to an asylum. Ernest wins election as a Representative in Congress, but is framed as a conspirator in a terrorist plot and is sent to prison, along with Avis. Avis is released some months later, followed by Ernest. The two flee into hiding and begin plotting a revolution. Before action can be taken, the government and oligarchs- which Ernest collectively calls The Iron Heel- form a private army, legitimized by the weak government. This private army sets in motion a false-flag riot in Chicago. The private army, called the Mercenaries, violently crushes the riot, killing many and using brutal tactics. Bishop Moorehouse, escaped from captivity, is killed in the riot. At the end of the novel, Avis writes optimistically about the plans for a second uprising that Ernest is certain will succeed. However, as the reader knows from Meredith’s forward, this second uprising will fail, and The Iron Heel will rule the country for centuries until the final revolution that forms the Brotherhood of Man. The manuscript ends suddenly, and Meredith explains that Avis Everhard hid the book because she knew she was about to be arrested. Major Characters Anthony Meredith. A historian from the far future, reading and making notes on the so-called Everhard Manuscript. He is condescending and chauvinistic towards Avis and often corrects her; however, his remarks reveal his limited understanding of the early 20th  century era that he studies. The reader  gets to know Meredith mainly through his marginalia, which adds detail and context to the novel. Avis Everhard. Born  into wealth, Avis is initially dismissive of the plight of the working class. Over the course of her manuscript, however, she begins to see her younger self as naive and childish, and she becomes a fierce proponent of revolution. There is evidence that Avis is not entirely reliable and that her core attitudes have not entirely changed; she often uses disrespectful language to describe the working classes even as she is speaking the language of revolution. Ernest Everhard. A passionate believer in socialism, Ernest is shown to be intelligent, physically powerful, and a courageous public speaker. Meredith implies that Ernest Everhard was merely one of many key people in the early days of the revolution, suggesting that Avis may  be romanticizing Ernest throughout her manuscript. Most critics believe Ernest represents London himself and his core beliefs. Dr. John Cunningham. Avis’ father, a celebrated academic and scientist. He is initially a supporter of the status quo, but slowly becomes convinced of  Ernest’s cause. He loses his status in society as a result and later disappears; Avis suspects he is kidnapped by the government. Bishop Moorehouse. A minister who undergoes a similar change in views  as Dr. Cunningham, eventually giving his life in the effort to resist the oligarchy. Literary Style The Iron Heel is a work of dystopian fiction. Dystopian fiction  presents a universe that is at odds with the author’s beliefs and attitudes; in this case, the dystopian aspect comes from a world run by capitalist oligarchs who exploit the working class, abuse the poor, and ruthlessly destroy critics. The novel is also considered a work of soft science fiction, because although it makes no mention of advanced technology, it is centered around a setting 700 years ahead of the date of its composition. London used a series of nested points-of-view in the novel, each with a different degree of  reliability. On the surface is the frame story of Dr. Meredith, who writes from the future and examines a work of historical importance. He presents himself as a trusted authority, but some of his commentary includes factual errors about 20th century history that would be obvious to the reader, which undermines his reliability. The next point of view is that of Avis Everhard, the narrator of the manuscript that makes up the bulk of the text of the novel. Her reliability comes into question when she implies that her statements about her husband are subjective, as well as when she makes seemingly contemptuous comments about the political cause she professes to support. Finally, the perspective of Ernest Everhard is provided when his speeches are included in the text. These speeches seem reliable due to their word-for-word nature, but Avis unreliability makes the reader less certain.   London also employs a technique known as a false document: a  fictional work that is presented to the reader as a factual one. This conceit allows London to add complexity to a novel that might otherwise be a straightforward political tract.  The Iron Heel  contains two intertwined, multilayered false documents  (Avis’ manuscript and Meredith’s gloss on that manuscript). This combination a complex mystery concerning whose perspective is closest to the truth. Jack London was charged several times over the course of his career with plagiarism. Chapter 7 of The Iron Heel, The Bishop’s Vision, is an essay written by Frank Harris. London did not deny that he  copied the speech verbatim, but he claimed that he believed it was a speech delivered by an actual bishop. Key Quotes â€Å"It is far easier to see brave men die than to hear a coward beg for life.† - Avis Everhardâ€Å"No man can be intellectually insulted. Insult, in its very nature, is emotional.† - Ernest Everhardâ€Å"Times have changed since Christs day. A rich man to-day who gives all he has to the poor is crazy. There is no discussion. Society has spoken.† - Ernest Everhard Iron Heel Fast Facts Title: Iron HeelAuthor: Jack LondonDate Published: 1908Publisher: MacmillanLiterary Genre: Dystopian Science FictionLanguage: EnglishThemes: Socialism and social revolution.Characters: Anthony Meredith, Avis Everhard, Ernest Everhard, John Cunningham, Bishop Moorehouse.

What Should High School Students Do Over the Summer

What Should High School Students Do Over the Summer SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Are you a high school student or the parent of one and are wondering how high school students should spend their summers?Summer is a great time to relax and recharge, but it’s also an excellent chance for students to get work experience, do an activity they enjoy, and boost their chances of getting into a top college. Read on for everything you need to know about summeractivities for high school students and how to choose the best option. Why Is It Important for High School Students to Keep Busy Over the Summer? While you may want to spend your entire summer sleeping in and hanging out with friends, it’s important also to spend part of the time being productive and preparing for your future. Participating in an activity over the summer can help you get a great job or get accepted to a top college in the future, and being productive over the summer doesn’t have to take up all your time or be boring! Colleges and employers love seeing applicants who are motivated and interested in learning more. By keeping busy over the summer, you'll show them that you have what it takes to be a great addition to their school or workplace. There are a lot of ways high school students can spend their summer; read on to learn what your options are and how you can choose an activity that you will find useful as well as enjoyable. How Can You Decide What to Do Over the Summer? You probably have a lot of options for how you can spend your summer: you could lifeguard at your local pool, take some summer classes, attend a summer camp near you or in a foreign country, and more. How can you decide whatyou should do? Read through the list below and ask yourself these three questions: #1: What Are Your Goals for the Future? Do you want to get a good job? Get into a dream college? Think about ways you can spend your time over the summer to make yourself a strong candidate. Will getting work experience help? You may want to consider a job or internship. Are there classes you can take to strengthen your transcript? Summer schoolmay be a good idea. #2: What Do You Enjoy Doing? You shouldn’t spend your summer doing something that makes you miserable. Are there certain extracurriculars, such as a club or sport, that you enjoy and want to continue over the summer? Is there a summer job that sounds interesting or fun? Try to find activities that will be both useful and enjoyable for you. #3: How Busy Do You Want to Be? It’s absolutely possible to do more than one of these activities during the summer. If there are multiple activities you’d like to do, feel free to do them. However, make sure you don’t become too busy or overwhelm yourself. Remember, summer is still about taking a break from school, and you don’t want to return to classes in the fall feeling burnt out and exhausted. Whileit may be great for your tan, youdon't want to spend allsummer lounging at the pool. 6 Great Summer Activities for High School Students Below are six of the best activities high school students can participate in over the summer. For each one, potential benefits and drawbacks are given, as well as examples and ways to get more information. Under the â€Å"How to Stand Out† heading, I’ve also included ways to make this activity particularly impressive to colleges and employers. Job Description: It’s common for high school students to work over the summer. Having a job is a great way to get work experience that you can include on your resume and college applications, and it will earn you money that you can use to help pay for college or just for fun. Many summer jobs for high school students are part-time, but full-time jobs are also available, especially if you’ve already worked at that place before. Common summer jobs that high school students have include being a lifeguard, cashier, or camp counselor. Pros:Make money, gain work experience for your resume and college applications. Cons: Some high school jobs can be tedious and not very interesting, your job may not relate to the career you want. Learn More: To learn more about jobs high school studentscan get, read our guide on the eight best jobs for teenagers,as well as this guide that will help you decide if getting a job is a good decision for you. How to Stand Out: Like any other activity, your job will impress colleges more if you stick with it and increase your responsibilities. If you can work at the same job over multiple summers and get promoted or have your responsibilities increased, that will make the job look stronger on your college applications. If you are able to find a summer job that relates to a subjectyou want to study in college or get a future job in, that will also help show colleges what your interests are and that you can commit to them. Want to build the best possible college application? We can help. PrepScholar Admissions is the world's best admissions consulting service. We combine world-class admissions counselors with our data-driven, proprietary admissions strategies. We've overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools, from state colleges to the Ivy League. We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. We want to get you admitted to your dream schools. Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in. Internship Description: Like a job, an internship involves working for a company or organization. However, internships are often more closely related to your career interests, and you may not always get paid to be an intern, especially as a high school student. If there’s a place you’d be interested in working at or learning more about, you can contact them directly and ask if they hire interns. Your high school’s career center will also likely have more information about internships you can apply for. Pros:Gain work experience,learn more about careers you may be interested in. Cons:You may not make money,some internships involve mostly grunt work that doesn’t teach you a lot about the specific career field. Learn More: For everything you need to know about getting and doing well at an internship, check out our guide. How to Stand Out: If you can get an internship that relates to a future career you’d like to have or subject you’d like to study, that will show colleges that you have a realinterest in that field. Schools like students who are passionate about something, and showing your passion in your internship will help boost your application. For example, if you are planning on majoring in English, getting an internship at a publishing company or newspaper, along with strong English classes and related extracurriculars, can show schools that you’re serious aboutthat fieldand motivated to learnmore about it. Schools will see that as an indicator that you’ll be similarly dedicated to your college classes and activities. Classes Description: Taking classes may not be the most fun way to spend your summer, but they can help you stay on track in high school and prepare you for college. Some students take summer classes to improve their grades in a class they didn’t do well in the first time, some do it to take a class they wouldn’t have time for during the school year, and some use summer classes as a way to take college courses or advanced high school classes. Summer classes can be taken in a variety of ways, either through your high school, at a community college, through an academic program at universities, or even online. Pros: Strengthen your transcript, take classes you’re interested in, can help prepare you for college. Cons: Might be harder to motivate yourself to study during the summer, not the most enjoyable way to spend the summer. Learn More:For more information, check out our guide to summer classes for high school students.We also have guides for severaluniversityacademic programs, including Stanford EPGY, the Boston University Summer Challenge, and the National Youth Leadership Forum. How to Stand Out: If you’re able to, taking college classes over the summer can be a great way to become a stronger applicant. Having college classes on your transcript, even if they are only introductory classes at a community college, can boost your application by showing schools that you’re able to handle the rigor and workload of college. This is an especially good option if your high school doesn’t offer a lot of advanced classes and you want to strengthen your transcript. Hobbies or Talents Description: This is a broad category that can includesports, clubs, or other activities that you do either through school, with a local group, or on your own. Some examples include sports teams, clubs, or a hobby you do in your free time, such as painting, working on computers, or creating a small business. Colleges and employers like to see applicants who have outside interests and can commit themselves to a particular activity. Continuing your hobbyduring the summer is a great way to show that. Because you don’t have classes to attend, summer is an excellenttime to spend more time participating in an activityyou enjoy.Use this time to think about how you can become better at the activity or increaseits impact. For example, if you love baking, is there a way you can expand that hobby? Perhaps you could take a pastry course, have community bake sales, see if local bakeries are interested in working with you, or something similar.If you do your hobby with a group, such as a school club or sports team, and they don't meet over the summer, you can still become better at it by practicing on your own or joining a community group, if one exists. Pros:Can do an activity you enjoy, possibly move into a leadership position, show colleges that you can commit to an activity and have interests outside the classroom. Cons:This may not be the best way to strengthen your resume or college application if you don’t plan on continuing the activity throughout high school or aren’t spending a lot of time on it. Learn More: If you need help deciding which activityto pursue, check out this guide tohundreds of extracurricular examples.We also have a guide to starting a new club if your school doesn't offer an activity that you're interested in. How to Stand Out: Your hobby or talentwill be most impressive to colleges if you have participated in it for an extended time period, have achieved a leadership position or more responsibility, and arepassionate about it. For more information on how to do this, check out this guide with four examples of amazing extracurriculars. Summer can be a great time to get better at a sport or other activity you enjoy doing. Summer Camp Description: Summer camps aren’t just for making s'mores and going on nature hikes anymore. More and more summer camps for high school students are being created that have unique focuses such as cultural immersion, performing arts, wilderness skills, and more. For this article, summer camps differ from regular extracurriculars because, even if they focus on the same area such as a sport, camps offer a more intensive, structured experience over a set period of time. Many students attend these programs to learn new skills or improve skills they already have. For example, if you want to get better at a certain sport or start to learn a new language, a summer camp can help you immerse yourself in that subject and really focus on learning it since there are fewer distractions, and you’ll be surrounded by people with similar goals. Participants may receive academic credit if they attend a program that includes coursework. Most of these programs are in the US, but there is a growing number of international summer camps for high school students. Pros: Can give you a unique experience, you may get the chance to travel, can focus on a skill or topic that’s important to you, chance of getting college credit. Cons: Can be expensive, the number of academic credits you receive is usually not very much, you may get homesick if it’s a sleep-awaycamp, some programs are poorly put together and may not be very beneficial or enjoyable. Learn More: Check out our guides for sports camps, medical programs, and study abroad programs to learn more about someof these opportunities. How to Stand Out: Summer camps can vary widely in terms of quality and the activities that participants do, so it’s important to research a program before you enroll in it. Look for programs that reflect your interests, whether academic or otherwise. For example, if you want to be a doctor,try to find a science-based summer camp or a program that lets you learn more about what it’s like to study and practice medicine. This will help show colleges that you take your career path seriously and are genuinely interested in learning more about it. Volunteering Description: Volunteering is when you do work that benefits others without receiving payment. There are many places where you can volunteer including schools, animal shelters, retirement homes, museums, and more. Most volunteer work is done near where you live, but there are also opportunities to do volunteer work abroad during the summer. This can be donethrough your school, place of worship, or an organization that offers these programs. In addition to the benefit of helping others, it’s often possible to choose volunteer work that relates to your interests. If you enjoy working with children, love spending time with animals, or want to work outside, you can often find a volunteer opportunity that allows you to do just that. Pros:Knowledge that you’re helping others,can include it on resumes and college applications,may be able to volunteer at a place where you’d like to work in the future,can fulfill a volunteer requirement if your high school has one. Cons:You won’t get paid,some volunteer work can be repetitive and tedious. Learn More: Learn about the nine best places to do community service as well as the best volunteer abroad programs. We also have a guide specifically for students trying to decide if they should attend a volunteer abroad program. How to Stand Out: Just completing a few hours of volunteer work won’t impress colleges very much. In order to make your volunteer work stand out, you’ll have to work at the same place over a long period of time, obtain a leadership position, and make your passion and interests clear. Check out this guide for a more in-depth look at how to make your volunteer work impressive. Summary It’s important that high school students spend part of their summer actively working or learning in order to bewell prepared for the future. Fortunately, there are many activities to participate in over the summer that will fit your interests and circumstances. Think about what you enjoy, what you could improve in, and what your goals for the future are in order to decide what to do over the summer. Regardless of the activity you choose to participate in, you can make it more impressive to colleges by connecting it to your interests, gaining new responsibilities, and sticking with it for the long term. What's Next? Want to know how to make your extracurricular stand out even more? Check out this guide to four amazing extracurricular activities and learn why they're so impressive to colleges. Wondering when to start applying to colleges? We have a guide that will give you a complete college application timeline to follow to make sure you're on track! Thinking about summer school?Our guide explains what summer school is, what you'll be doing, and who should be enrolling in it. Summer school has more uses than you may think! Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now: