Chapters 3-4 Quiz Today

I hope you all studied for the Chapters 3-4 Quiz, and the Vocabulary test about Chapters 1-2.

HOMEWORK:

-Study............Study................Study!

In our Second class we will be watching a documentary on HITLER vs. STALIN the roots of evil.

Hitler and Stalin: Roots of Evil DVD
They are responsible for some 60 million deaths. They ruled their countries with iron fists, squashing all dissent and directing government-sponsored programs of terror against their own citizens.

Drawing on the latest findings and expert analysis from leading psychologists and historians, HITLER AND STALIN: ROOTS OF EVIL examines the 20th century's worst villains. The parallels are striking: both had abusive fathers and doting mothers, both were extremely insecure about their physical appearance and ashamed of their backgrounds, and both came to power at roughly the same time. From Hitler's "Jewish nose" to Stalin's deformed foot, the Final Solution to the Gulags, this incisive special compares the backgrounds and policies of these two despots, interpreting the latest evidence and theories in the hopes of illuminating the personal, emotional and mental underpinnings of their actions.

The first program of its type, HITLER AND STALIN: ROOTS OF EVIL adds a new facet to our understanding of these two reviled dictators.

Chapter 5

Today I showed you a power point slide show about Russia

and how it similar to Animal farm.

HOMEWORK:

-Finish Chapter 5 Questions

Chapter Five: Analysis
In Chapter Five, the strife between Napoleon and Snowball reaches its climax. The two pigs represent two divisions of a post-revolutionary government, one (symbolized by Snowball) the more intellectual, visionary, and idealistic, and the other (represented by Napoleon) more economically-minded and authoritarian. With the appearance of the young puppies, now trained into killer attack dogs by Napoleon, the animals give their first strong sense of Napoleon's ideological betrayal; the dogs were the resources of the farm, and Napoleon seized them and then turned them against the farm animals themselves.

Squealer's role becomes more central to the political development of the farm in these scenes as well. His persuasive abilities are now used exclusively to pacify the animals after each of Napoleon's disturbing proclamations. In this sense, Squealer functions as the charismatic and eloquent mouth-piece of the increasingly tyrannical government that Napoleon quickly puts in place.

The reactions of Mollie the mare and Boxer the cart-horse can be contrasted in Chapter Five. Mollie is unable (or unwilling) to stand the strain of the new Animal Farm workload, and her love of luxuries such as sugar lumps and ribbons incline her more toward contact with humans anyway. Her flight can be seen as a portrayal of the flight of pampered nobles after a revolution. Boxer, on the other hand, responds to Napoleon's increasing control by giving himself a new mantra, "Napoleon is always right." Here Orwell satirizes the blind, unthinking devotion of the masses toward the political figure they originally supported, despite the leader's devolution into tyranny.

QUIZ!

The quiz was today. I just got through marking

them and the class average was just 60%!

Let's do a better job in preparing for the

Chapters 3-4 quiz.

HOMEWORK:

-The 7 commandments writing is due MAY 30th.

GOOD LUCK ON YOUR EXAMS!!!

Animal Farm Quiz Next Class Chapters 1-2

Today we did a group study session.

You had to come up with the top 3 event from chapters 1&2.

Students then made up 2 questions to ask the rest of the class.

HOMEWORK:

-STUDY, STUDY,STUDY!

TEST NEXT CLASS!

Animal Farm Chapter 4

We talked about chapter 4 today.

Keep in mind the writing assignment which you will have to do.

HOMEWORK:

- Chapter 4 Questions

- Read chapter 5

*Chapters 1-2 Quiz Friday period 1*

Chapter Four: Summary

News of the rebellion at Animal Farm spreads quickly to the rest of the animals in England, and the words to "Beasts of England" can soon be heard on farms everywhere. Emboldened by the Animal Farm revolution, other previously subdued animals begin displaying subversive behavior in subtle ways, such as tearing down fences and throwing riders. This development alarms the local farmers, who have listened to Mr. Jones's tale of woe at the Red Lion tavern where he now spends most of his time. Alarmed by the developments at Animal Farm and the threat of revolution spreading, the townsmen band together with Mr. Jones and attempt to reclaim his farm. The animals successfully defend it, led by the strategy and bravery of Snowball. A young farm hand is thrown to the ground by Boxer, and at first it appears that he has been killed, but he gains consciousness a few moments later and runs off. At the first gunshot, Mollie the mare runs into the barn in terror and buries her head in the hay. Snowball and Boxer are given medals for their courageous fighting.

Animal Farm The Movie

We watched "Animal Farm The Movie" today.

HOMEWORK:

-Read Chapter 4

- Do Chapter 3 Questions

Chapter Three: Analysis
In Chapter Three we begin to see the first unmistakable signs that the Revolution will drift away from the common animals' ideals, which were more aligned with Old Major's vision of a classless society. The exclusion of the pigs from the farm labor marks the beginnings of the social stratification which would have been anathema to Old Major. The animals go along with these developments out of fear that without the pigs, Mr. Jones will return, though these fears are implanted by Squealer, who early on recognizes the value of fear in persuading the animals.
Chapter Three also establishes the division between Snowball and Napoleon. Snowball is clearly the "thinker" of the movement, developing the flag-raising ritual and symbolism and creating the elaborate system of committees. To the reader, much of Snowball's activity seems benign, and even benevolent, as in the education efforts and improvement-minded groups like the Whiter Wool Movement for the sheep. These efforts establish Snowball as the symbolic descendant of Old Major's vision of animal life.
Napoleon, in contrast, becomes subtly malevolent in his interactions with the newborn puppies. Here, Orwell's use of perspective to create irony is significant. The scene (as is all of Animal Farm) is narrated from the unquestioning animals' point of view, and the narrator only remarks that Napoleon "kept [the puppies] in such seclusion that the rest of the farm soon forgot their existence". The tone of Orwell's animal perspective is, as always, noncommittal and unremarkable, but the more-perceptive reader is instantly alerted by this suspicious behavior on Napoleon's part, and is cued for the bolder violations which Napoleon will commit in subsequent chapters.

Chapter 2

We talked about chapter 2 in class today.

HOMEWORK:
- Finish chapter 2 questions
- Read chapter 3

NEXT CLASS PART 1 ANIMAL FARM MOVIE

Chapter Two: Analysis
With his death, Old Major symbolizes the idealistic, often intellectual or abstract vision that leads to a revolution. His death clears the path for other younger figures to seize the revolutionary fervor which is sweeping the farm and use it to propel themselves to position of power. Napoleon, Snowball, and Squealer are cleverer, sneakier, and more aggressive than the other animals, and they soon rise to power as the leaders of the revolutionary movement.

The other animals' hesitancy to accept the revolutionary ideology right away is symbolic of the peasants in Russia who were at first suspicious of the revolutionaries motives. The reservations they express, such as the plaint that "Mr. Jones feeds us. If he were gone, we would starve to death," symbolize the people's reluctance to abandon the security of their familiar forms of governance in favor of a self-determined, less secure future. Squealer's persuasive tactics in convincing the animals to unite in revolution symbolize the personable, persuasive speaking powers of a charismatic political leader.

The Seven Commandments are significant for their resounding censure not only of animal inequality, but less predictably of human habits at large. The first two and last two commandments are aimed at reinforcing the unity of the animal world and establishing some basic beliefs for the animals to share.

Commandments 3-5, which explicitly forbid the animals to engage in human activities such as sleeping in beds, wearing clothes, or drinking alcohol, are fundamentally different. With these Commandments, the animal society attaches a significance and prestige to these vestiges of human life that they might have not developed otherwise. With no taboos against wearing the Jones's clothes, for example, one can imagine a scenario where the animals wear the clothes briefly as a curiosity, with no harm done. By forbidding these acts, the Revolutionary leaders turn the items into signifiers of prestige and social standing, making the pigs' eventual adoption of human habits particularly disillusioning.

Chapter 1

We reviewed chapter 1 today.

I showed you some very interesting 1950s

TV commercials about persuasion.

HOMEWORK:

- Read chapter 2 for next class

- Do chapter 1 questions for next class

Here is a summary for chapter 1:

Chapter One: Analysis
Animal Farm is a satire on the Russian Revolution, and is one of the best 20th-century examples of allegory, an extended form of metaphor in which objects and persons symbolize figures that exist outside the text. As its title suggests, the setting for this fable-like novel is a farm, and the bulk of the characters are the farm animals themselves, all of whom symbolize various revolutionary figures or political ideologies.

The opening chapter introduces the theme of revolution that dominates

Animal Farm, as well as introduces the farm animals who are less notable for their individual characters than for the political figures they will symbolize in later chapters. Old Major is the central figure in Chapter One. He lights the spark of revolution on the farm, and symbolizes the idealistic revolutionary leaders whose ideas served as the catalyst for revolution in Russia and more general within the Communist movement. His statement that "the life of an animal is misery and slavery" echoes the 17th-century philosopher Hobbes, who famously described human life as "nasty, brutish, and short".

The first chapter contains many examples of the whimsy which is scattered throughout Animal Farm, most notably in the way Orwell describes the various farm animals in semi-human terms. We meet Clover, the mare "who never quite got her figure back after her fourth foal," an example of Orwell drawing attention to the very "animalness" of the farm animals by juxtaposing it with traditionally human characteristics and foibles. Orwell's writing style here, as throughout the novel, is plain, spare, and simple, a technique which emphasizes the fable aspect of Animal Farm; by using minimalist language and short, simple sentence structure, Orwell draws the reader's attention to the animals' perspective, a point of view which will lead to great irony as the revolution unfolds.

ANIMAL FARM

Thank you for finishing up the group map project.

We will begin our first book of the year-"ANIMAL FARM".

HOMEWORK:

*ANIMAL FARM*

-Read a note on the text (intro to the book)

-Chapter 1