How does Orwell use the fable form to explore ideas about power in Animal Farm?
How does Orwell use the fable form to explore ideas about power in Animal Farm? Remember to write about the society in which the stories are set. Orwell wrote this play to illustrate the Russian revolution. He used the animals to symbolise the main characters in the Russian Revolution. The moral of this fable is that power can corrupt anyone if they are not careful. Animal Farm is used to represent Russia in the time when Stalin was ruling Russia. Orwell represents the populations of Russia through the animals. Boxer is used to represent the community of Russia that did just as Stalin liked and didn't question his word. When the dogs attacked him he held them down with his hoof with ease. "Boxer looked at Napoleon to know whether he should crush the dog to death or let it go." He doesn't understand that the dogs were sent to attack him by Napoleon. This shows just how imprudent Boxer is. He is not as clever as Napoleon at all. If Boxer had a brain as good as a pig he would have been a great leader of the farm. Snowball is meant to symbolise Leon Trotsky and how he tries to do good for the country. Snowball has many attributes. He is a very helpful character and tried to help all the animals on the farm." He formed the Egg production Committee... the clean Tails League..., the wild Comrades' Re-education Committee" This shows that Snowball is dedicated to spreading the
Dreams and Fantasies in 1984 There is a reoccurring theme in the novel 1984, by George Orwell. The main character, Winston Smith is often fantasizing about his utopia, and dreaming about past events
Dreams and Fantasies in 1984 There is a reoccurring theme in the novel 1984, by George Orwell. The main character, Winston Smith is often fantasizing about his utopia, and dreaming about past events. In a world where everyone is controlled and everything is decided for you, Winston relies on his subconscious mind to maintain his sanity. Winston works rewriting the past in a department for the Party. His memories of the past are usually the opposite of the Party's version of the past. Winston is very confused about whether or not he is losing his mind. His dreams reveal the reality of the Party and the truth of the past, enabling him to trust his own instinct of what is right and wrong, keeping it clear in his mind what the past was really like. In one dream Winston envisioned his mother and his baby sister sinking into a well or lowering off the side of a ship - he wasn't quite sure. He felt as if they were being sucked towards death. He knew they were sacrificing their lives for his own. Winston realizes "...that his mothers dhree of them. Winston, of course, demanded the whole piece. His mother responded by telling him not to be greedy. She gave him the majority of the piece and the rest to his little sister, but he stole it from her. She started to cry while Winston ran away with the chocolate. His mother held his baby sister in her arms, trying to console her. It did
Shooting an Elephant - Orwell's insecurities prompted the murder of a defenseless animal.
Jordan Fife 1 English 1 David Zehr 03-01-03 Shooting an Elephant: Orwell's Insecurities Prompted the Murder of a Defenseless Animal The short story "Shooting an Elephant", by George Orwell, is a narration that subtly discusses Orwell's motives for killing an escaped elephant. As a sub-division officer for imperialist Britain in 1936, Orwell attempts to keep the favor of the native townspeople where he is stationed and to avoid humiliation. The townspeople of Burma neither favored nor respected Orwell until an event occurred that would allow a character opinion to be made. The event was a disruptance where he had to shoot an elephant for the alleged safety of the public. Orwell is not motivated to kill the elephant for the safety of the public, but by his fear of his own insecurities that plague him. Orwell is uniquely susceptible to peer pressure and pressed forward to action through humility. Upon initial assessment of the situation that would test the strength of Orwell's character he concludes "at that distance, peacefully eating, the elephant looked no more dangerous than a cow. I thought then and I think now that his attack of "must" was already passing off; in which case he would merely wander harmlessly about until
Explain the principles of Ingsoc and their maxims.
Explain the principles of Ingsoc and their maxims. The slogans of the Party sum up their goals, or what they are aiming for. It uses these, not only to control the people through the use of tele-screens, but also to control reality itself. The Party does this by altering the past, although, using double think easily conceals this fact. The principles of INGSOC may seem odd, and to intelligent people, impossible, yet they do have......... Parallels with today can be drawn. The three party slogans are the best example of doublethink. The three slogans of the party are: WAR IS PEACE FREEDOM IS SLAVERY IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH War Is Peace is the belief that when two different countries are at war continuously with each other, they are also continuously at peace. Both countries are gaining cities and them losing them. None of the Party's inhabited land was ever endangered. When this happens, both countries citizens are at peace, they are not threatened by war. The only reason war may be used would be as a destruction of procedure. The Party believed that the goods available, shouldn't be overprotected because it leads to them being equally distributed and they believed that with equal distribution of goods came socialism. The Party obviously were never at all interested in this idea so it saw hat throughout recorded history the has been distinct classes between the people.
Look at the first four chapters of 1984. How has Orwell introduced the key concepts of memory, power, and control?
English h/w for 29.9.06 Mr. Jenkins Look at the first four chapters of 1984. How has Orwell introduced the key concepts of memory, power, and control? In chapter one Orwell introduces the idea of memory, power, and control almost from the first line. The book opens with Winston making his way home from work, even from the first page we can tell that Orwell wants us to experience some kind of extreme political force that is at work that we don't know about yet. We can tell this because as soon as he gets through the flats he is greeted by a poster of who we later learn to be big brother. Underneath the poster reads the party slogan 'Big Brother is watching you' and Orwell also adds that the posters eyes seem to follow you wherever you go. This conveys, already a sense to the reader that there is some deep political force at work here, one that has a lot of propaganda and therefore power and control. Almost directly after this we are introduced to a device called the telescreen, which only enhances our idea of the control and power of people's lives that big brother has on them. The fact that the telescreen can never be shutoff also adds to that as though whether you like it or not the political forces can always watch you. Also the idea of thought crime we are introduced to. This is where by thinking 'unclean' thoughts' you are erased. This is where Orwell introduces us to
Some readers have felt that, even allowing for the bleakness of the times in which he lived, Orwell's vision in Nineteen Eighty Four is excessively grim and pessimistic. Explore various aspects of the novel from this perspective.
Some readers have felt that, even allowing for the bleakness of the times in which he lived, Orwell's vision in Nineteen Eighty Four is excessively grim and pessimistic. Explore various aspects of the novel from this perspective, explaining how far you would agree with such a view. Orwell's views throughout '1984' are grim and pessimistic in relation to his personal experiences and how he interprets the world, as we know, and what it may become. The possibility of a totalitarian society, which he so fears, is the reason that his views in the novel are as bleak as they are, and why he has created this dystopia for the reader to fear. From the first page of the novel it is already clear in the readers' minds Orwell's bleak picture of the places he describes. The continent of Oceania entails only sordid living conditions and strict government controls, a situation far away from the world that we live in today. There are very few positive images in the novel, and even then these are ambivalent. Julia is described as beautiful, but previously in the novel Winston thinks about her; "Winston had disliked her from the very first moment of seeing her". It is clear that Orwell was intent on setting a grim tone for the novel to reflect the highly grim content. I believe he created this world to reflect the mood of the time as realistically as possible. The Second World War had only
Animal Farm - Power Corrupts, and Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely
In 1887, Lord Acton told his friend in a letter, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." In 1945, George Orwell published the short novel Animal Farm, which was as allegory to Soviet totalitarianism, in which he made his views about several topics clear. Many of the characters in the book are corrupted by power, particularly the pigs, as they begin to manipulate their position of leadership to exploit the other animals, showing that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Firstly, it can be seen how power corrupts the pigs in Animal Farm simply by their actions, which include the changing of the commandments and their manipulation of the other animals. The actions of the character Napoleon are a particular case in this argument. In the fifth chapter of the book, Napoleon ousts Snowball from the farm during one of the regular debates with the aid of his trained dogs. Napoleon, not being satisfied with the amount of power that he currently had, decided to expel Snowball from Animal Farm with the support of his trained dogs. He did this in blatant disregard to the second of the Seven Commandments of Animalism. "Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend. (Chapter 2)" The law is written so that every animal is considered a friend. However, Napoleon chose to treat Snowball as an enemy because Snowball's
Does the rest of the story show the fulfilment of the ideals and aims expressed in Old Major's Speech?
Does the rest of the story show the fulfilment of the ideals and Aim expressed in his speech? Give a full commentary on what takes place. Personally I do not agree that Old Major's ideals and aims were achieved by the other Pigs and animals. The pigs are shown to take control from the very beginning making up rules and then changing them to suit themselves even before the speech the pigs have taken the front seats in the meeting. The ideals and aims are peace, unity, equality, fraternity, fairness and justice. These are the concepts behind the animal commandments (Listed previously in this essay). The pigs have already learnt reading, writing and language to get ahead of the other animals allowing them to change the rules without confrontation. Language is fundamental to the pigs gaining power. The exclusion of the pigs from day to day work on the farm marks the beginnings of power for the pigs. This is no longer going to carry along with Old Major's ideals of a classless society. The pigs resemble management in a place of work, which again violates Old Major's rules "remember that also in fighting against man we must not come to resemble him." There is not perfect unity between the animals because of the pigs telling the other animals what to do and when to do it. This does not unite them it drives them apart because deep down they know that they have a leader. The
Fox hunting should be banned. Do you agree?
Fox hunting should be banned. Do you agree? I have studied Fox hunting, and I agree wholeheartedly with this statement. I have heard interviews with hunt supporters in which they say that fox hunting does a huge job for farmers in keeping fox numbers down. I cannot believe that this is true, and having researched it on the internet I have found that at least 2 scientific studies have concluded that statistically the numbers of foxes killed by hunts is insignificant. I appreciate that killing the fox and keeping numbers down is not the only reason that hunts take place, but it is often used as an excuse for the purpose of fox hunting; hence hunt supporters appear to contradict themselves in their response to individual questions on why they hunt and group responses to political criticism or pressure from animal rights groups. In my research on fox hunting I have discovered that a fox hunt of some sort takes place in a number of European countries, America, Canada, Russia and elsewhere. I found these statements on the Masters of Foxhounds Association of America (MFAA) website ( http://www.mfha.com ) : "In Britain the goal is to kill the fox. Because there is no rabies in the British Isles, populations of fox are extremely high and fox are considered vermin." "Farmers with sheep farms want the animal numbers controlled. In America this is not normally the case. A successful
How does Major seek to persuade the animals in chapter one of Animal Farm?
'How does old Major seek to persuade the animals in Chapter 1 of Animal Farm?' There are many ways in which Orwell uses rhetoric in order to persuade the audience (the farm animals). Old Major wants to create an animal utopia, and in order to do this, encourages rebellion within the farm. Techniques such as pathos and rhetorical questions are used effectively with a wide variety of other techniques e.g. antithesis, anaphora and ethos being used, though perhaps not as widely or as well as the two devices mentioned previously (pathos and rhetorical questions). The other main persuasive method was via structure, which was also used successfully. Pathos and emotive vocabulary is used extensively in the speech. For example,'...our lives are miserable, laborious and short...' this phrase is very good because he (Old Major) refers to himself as one of his audience which makes them listen to him. This is also an example of emotive vocabulary because Orwell could have written 'our lives are sad, tiring and short' but he didn't he used his vocabulary to make the reader really think about what he was saying. The broken repetition of the word 'man' also adds to the emotive atmosphere, and as old Major becomes more and more heated throughout the speech he begins to repeat the word more and more whi8ch, by the end, perhaps even evokes the word as a 'bad word' a word that should not be
