Hello everyone! It's been a week, can you believe I'm back so soon? :) mhm neither can I! In my last post, I mentioned how I have been reading Animal Farm and how I was half way...well I literally just finished and it was fantastic! To be honest, my copy of the novel is about 141 pages, so I definitely recommend reading it and finding time to enjoy it. Personally I found it humorous, of course, but sad as well. In that work of satire, the animals underwent a series of mistreatments such as lowering themselves towards the pigs, Napoleon (their “righteous” leader) and the fearful dogs. They worked persistently and often lacked the nutrition needed with the belief that they were tolerating all the suffering because they had to, to be free and so they would not have the lifestyles they had before their rebellion.
However, one topic I would like to focus on through this post is simple as names given to either people or things we own. We are all given different names at our birth, these names given by our parents or guardians are either because they simply love the names or because they hold some kind of significance. An example would be a girl with the same name as her great grandmother (or just anyone admired by the ones naming her). By doing so, the parents hope their child would inherit some characteristics of that great grandmother or just a way to honor her. Before being named Animal Farm, the farm was called “Manor Farm”, it was governed by Mr Jones and his wife until the rebellion. During Jones's occupation the animals' lives were miserable, they were often abused, lacked the amount of food necessary and killed to be sold. By burning all reminders of their former owner, the animals got rid of any sort of existing liaison. The farm then obtained a new name “Animal Farm”, therefore presenting a new setting. During that period of time (well at first), the animals lived a pleasant life and were proud of their success against the humans, the seven commandments were presented and they were to get an education to become successful.
Then as the novel is coming to an end, the farm's name changes to “Republic of the Animals” in which Napoleon is elected president as if he hasn't been controlling everyone since he chased Snowball away. As the farm again gets a new name, the environment changes; some of the animals start complaining about the demonstrations ordered by Napoleon and some completely forgot the way things were so they were unable to compare the conditions in which they were living in “freedom” to the ones when Mr Jones was in charge. At the end of the novel, Napoleon gives the farm back its original name “Manor Farm”. At that time, Napoleon and the pigs behaved like humans themselves and broke all the commandments made.
Right now, I'm reading Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen and I'm hoping it'll be as amazing as Animal Farm! Until next time! :)
I loved your blog! I am defiantly going to read this book. I had second thoughts on it when I read the summary of the book. However, I enjoyed how you made it seem so modern, comparing it to events that happened in the twenty first century. I love how per usual funny you are in all of the posts. It is always fun and interesting to read. In your future blog posts I would defiantly recommend adding more analysis to your blogs to make them even more in depth. I am still so shocked that they were not able to write in journals that is crazy! Keep writing.
ReplyDeleteHonestly I think by now you can tell that what I'm going to say is great job because you're posts always intrigue me. I love your writing style and how you acknowledge the book, giving us a bit of background information, and then giving an insightful analysis. You approached this assignment well and really, there's nothing bad to say. The only suggestion I have is probably to start adding pictures to make your blogs stand out more.
ReplyDeleteThank you for reminding me that Big Brother is also in Animal Farm! Sorry I can't italicizes that. But that just adds into my argument that Big Brother is Hitler, which is the kind of connection you should be making. Overall I loved the piece and they have been getting more analytical, but i would just like to see more outside connections and more insight. I didn't really see an explanation on how this piece was a satire, but I enjoyed reading your blog like I always do!
ReplyDeletePlease scratch the Big Brother part, my computer died and that wa supposed to be for Rose's!
DeleteGreat post!! I really enjoyed reading this most, because it was very different. As I am sure you are well aware of, almost all of the people in our writing group are reading "Animal Farm". And I thought that like the other members you would connect the book to Russia (Joseph Stalin), or the oppression of people and how they are deceived, or even how ironic the book is. But you did none of that instead you focused on the name and the changing of the farm's name, which I thought was brilliant (I feel like I say "brilliant" every time I comment on here). The only criticism I would give for this post is that I felt like there was mostly plot summary and that could have been avoided. I cannot wait for your next post.
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