Entry 8

8. Entry of your choice…

George Orwell Biography

The British novelist and essayist George Orwell (1903-1950) is best known for his satirical novels Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-four. George Orwell was born Eric Arthur Blair at Motihari, Bengal, India. His father, Richard Walmesley Blair, was a minor customs official in the opium department of the Indian Civil Service. When George Orwell was four years old, his family returned to England where they settled at Henley, a village near London. His father soon returned to India. When Orwell was eight years old, he was sent to a private preparatory school in Sussex. He later claimed that his experiences there determined his views on the English class system. From there he went by scholarship to two private secondary schools: Wellington for one term and Eton for four and a half years. Orwell then joined the Indian Imperial Police, receiving his training in Burma, where he served from 1922 to 1927. While home on leave in England, Orwell made the important decision not to return to Burma. His resignation from the Indian Imperial Police became effective on Jan. 1, 1928. He had wanted to become a writer since his adolescence, and he had come to believe that the Imperial Police was in this respect an unsuitable profession. Later evidence also suggests that he had come to understand the imperialism which he was serving and had rejected it.

Entry 7

7. Are there any settings in this novel which you have found to be beautiful? Or disturbing? Or memorable? Describe these settings and comment on why they were meaningful to you.

Animal Farm was the setting that I have found beautiful and memorable. It takes place at an unspecified time on a British farm near Willington, a town that is mentioned only in passing. The farm is first called Manor Farm, later renamed Animal Farm and, finally, Manor Farm once more. The farm lends a perfect rural, pastoral, and nostalgic backdrop for Old Major's dream. The animals planned to make a windmill for better living. The windmill if the grand project that Snowball proposes for supplying the farm with electricity. Napoleon adopts this project himself after he chases Snowball off the farm. The animals spend years building the windmill out of stone, and it is destroyed twice, but when they do eventually get it working it is used to thresh corn rather than to give them electricity.

Entry 6

6. Please choose one passage from the novel that is significant to you. Why is this passage meaningful? Please type it into one of your entries and comment on what you think about the passage.

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others (p.81).”

This passage to me. I didn’t really understand this passage. I was wondering how could some animals are more equal than others? And like how animals are equal? What do you mean to be equal? Then I kind of understood it is equal by communism and democracy. This passage shows that everything is back to the beginning because by the goal for the animals to live without human.

Entry 5

5. What is the mood of this novel? Do you find this novel saddens you in any way? Why?

The mood varies from the comic to the tragic, with the overall mood being one of tension. The whole story is filled with irony and bitter sarcasm. In chapter two, the animals were very happy over the Rebellion because they just have made that they can’t believe it when it was over. In chapter tree, they were still happy in their work on Animal Farm even though it was hard because they made things successfully. If they felt unhappy, they wouldn’t work so hard (p. 17 "HOW THEY TOILED AND SWEATED to get hay in! But their efforts were rewarded, for the harvest was an even bigger success than they had hoped”). In chapter 7, the mood is pretty good even though the season was winter and they were starving because Squealer told the animals that they are free so they felt better. The animals have started the work again on the windmill. In chapter nine, the animals were hungry but when they listened to Squealer, who told them that they are getting more food than they got under Mr. Jones, they felt better. Many years passed by. The animals were dead and new ones were born. A lot of the past were forgotten (p.85 "Years passed...........and a number of the pigs."). The animals are having better now, because the farm was going very well. The animals felt upset and amazed because the pigs were walking out from the farmhouse on two legs. The story shows that everything is back to the beginning and it tells me that bad things are always following good things which are depressing and people get punishments for all bad things they have done. It also shows that people always end up with failing.

Entry 4

4. What is the climax of this novel? What happens? How do the events of this novel make you feel?

The climax is the day when all the animals will gather in the big barn to vote. The farm is divided into two factions at this stage, the “Vote for Snowball and the three-day week” faction, and the “Vote for Napoleon and the full manger” faction. Snowball has convinced his faction that the windmill will lead to increased leisure time for everybody, while Napoleon has convinced his faction that the distraction of the windmill will cause the animals to lose time on the harvest and starve. The sheep heckle Snowball as he explains his plans for the windmill, and why it will be good for the farm. Napoleon then rises and gives a very brief and curt address, advising everyone to vote against the windmill. Snowball then speaks again. He talks passionately and eloquently, and creates a vision of a mechanized farm with heat and light, with electrical threshers and ploughs and reapers, where the animals do little or no work, and all the labor is carried out by the electricity generated by the windmill. It is clear that Snowball will win the vote. Just then, Napoleon stands and emits a queer sound, a kind of whimper. At this signal, nine huge dogs, the dogs that Napoleon took away as puppies months before, rush into the barn and charge at Snowball. They chase him from the barn and off the farm. He is never seen again.

Entry 3

3. Who are the main characters in the novel? Do you like them? Why or why not? What is special about them? What do they reveal about the universal human experience?

All animals in the novel are the main character. My dislike animal is Benjamin, a donkey, who is the oldest animal on the farm, and the worst tempered. He is a sad cynic who believes that whatever the animals do, conditions on the farm will remain equally as bad. Although he usually refuses to read (one who reads the side of the truck that comes to take Boxer away and realizes it belongs to the horse slaughterer). In this novel, Benjamin is moved to action, but he was too late to save his friend. Benjamin represents the cynical intellectual who refuses to get involved in politics and so fails to affect meaningful change. I think Benjamin’s cynicism is much like George Orwell’s own attitude toward life.

Entry 2

2. Are there are any current situations in the world that relate to the novel? What are they, and how do they relate? Does the novel shed any light on how current situations could be resolved or "fixed"?

There are some current situations in the world that relate to the novel. The world is related to this book by power. People fall into corrupted government’s leading and the communist countries have turned toward to democracy. The author wrote the book to criticize the communism of Russia Rebellion and he blamed Soviet Union society. This story is also related to North Korea situation. The poor people in North Korea are having hard time to live. They are really poor that they can't eat proper meals. The president of North Korea, Kim Jung Ill, is commanding over North Korean people just like Napoleon. The quote, “All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others,” is come from their greedy and selfish mind.