Hello to all. This is my first attempt at writing a poem. Do comment on it.
Memories of School
Remembered the time,
When I got my new bag.
It was black and ever gleaming.
This was the start of my journey.
It started off with a loudspeaker,
Right into my ears.
I returned home bruised and bloody,
With a scratch to my lips.
Exams were never easy,
Usually just pulled through.
I got caught in the web,
Got glued to the screen.
This habits were never easy,
To get them away from you.
One after another,
They always seem too tempting.
I wanted to make up ground,
For the lost knowledge I did not gain.
Walking down the lost path,
Was never easy for me.
Alas I had reached my destination,
My knowledge returned to me.
Working hard to gain my stand,
I topped the class at last.
The memories of school,
Are fondly remembered.
It was because of them,
Which crafted my strong will.
That's all for today, folks! Do give your thoughts!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Emergency IT Lesson 1 Figurative Language
It's time to walk down that old dusty lane of ours to remind ourselves of our innocence. I've chosen a poem from an poet(of course!) - Walt Whitman - to tell us about his perspective of school. So just take a look at it. Seriously, it is meaningful to read.
Old Man's Thought of School
An old man’s thought of School;
An old man, gathering youthful memories and blooms, that youth itself cannot.
Now only do I know you!
O fair auroral skies! O morning dew upon the grass!
And these I see—these sparkling eyes,
These stores of mystic meaning—these young lives,
Building, equipping, like a fleet of ships—immortal ships!
Soon to sail out over the measureless seas,
On the Soul’s voyage.
Only a lot of boys and girls?
Only the tiresome spelling, writing, ciphering classes?
Only a Public School?
Ah more—infinitely more;
(As George Fox rais’d his warning cry, “Is it this pile of brick and
mortar—these dead floors, windows, rails—you call the church?
Why this is not the church at all—the Church is living, ever living Souls.”)
And you, America,
Cast you the real reckoning for your present?
The lights and shadows of your future—good or evil?
To girlhood, boyhood look—the Teacher and the School.
To the boring part, figuring out the figurative language encompassed in this confusing poem. Figurative language IS NOT MEANT TO BE TAKEN LITERALLY.
As you know, this poem generally tells us about school from an "old man"'s view. It could be that Walt Whitman is really an octogenarian or he is just using a hyperbole (it's pronounced as hy-per-ber-ly) which is another word for exaggeration.
Another trait of this poem is the usage of similies. Why? The children are compared to "immortal ships" which require "building" and "equipping" with a keyword - "like". Similies make use of the word "like" or "as". Without this, the sentence will be a metaphor. When Walt Whitman exclaims "And you, America", he is regarding America as a person without using "like" or "as". Thus, it is a metaphor. It probably suggests that children require knowledge and skills which will be achieved when they "sail out over the measureless seas", which suggests their learning journey. In this whole stanza, symbolism is achieved by using a representative figure to carry additional meaning.
Personification is a method to give human traits to something. In this poem, personification is achieved when Walt Whitman claims that he finally "know(s) you(school)". Walt Whitman is giving human traits to the school by expressing that he finally knows the school.
Old Man's Thought of School
An old man’s thought of School;
An old man, gathering youthful memories and blooms, that youth itself cannot.
Now only do I know you!
O fair auroral skies! O morning dew upon the grass!
And these I see—these sparkling eyes,
These stores of mystic meaning—these young lives,
Building, equipping, like a fleet of ships—immortal ships!
Soon to sail out over the measureless seas,
On the Soul’s voyage.
Only a lot of boys and girls?
Only the tiresome spelling, writing, ciphering classes?
Only a Public School?
Ah more—infinitely more;
(As George Fox rais’d his warning cry, “Is it this pile of brick and
mortar—these dead floors, windows, rails—you call the church?
Why this is not the church at all—the Church is living, ever living Souls.”)
And you, America,
Cast you the real reckoning for your present?
The lights and shadows of your future—good or evil?
To girlhood, boyhood look—the Teacher and the School.
To the boring part, figuring out the figurative language encompassed in this confusing poem. Figurative language IS NOT MEANT TO BE TAKEN LITERALLY.
As you know, this poem generally tells us about school from an "old man"'s view. It could be that Walt Whitman is really an octogenarian or he is just using a hyperbole (it's pronounced as hy-per-ber-ly) which is another word for exaggeration.
Another trait of this poem is the usage of similies. Why? The children are compared to "immortal ships" which require "building" and "equipping" with a keyword - "like". Similies make use of the word "like" or "as". Without this, the sentence will be a metaphor. When Walt Whitman exclaims "And you, America", he is regarding America as a person without using "like" or "as". Thus, it is a metaphor. It probably suggests that children require knowledge and skills which will be achieved when they "sail out over the measureless seas", which suggests their learning journey. In this whole stanza, symbolism is achieved by using a representative figure to carry additional meaning.
Personification is a method to give human traits to something. In this poem, personification is achieved when Walt Whitman claims that he finally "know(s) you(school)". Walt Whitman is giving human traits to the school by expressing that he finally knows the school.
Although this poem did not carry much meaning to me when I first read it, after thorough analysis of the poem, I started developing an interest for it. Why do I like it? Firstly, it brings to me the impression when I first entered school: “Only the tiresome spelling, writing, ciphering classes”. The poet does have the perspective of a child’s. Next, I like how the poet combined ships with children. He used different methods of figurative language, similes, metaphors and symbolism, all grouped into a stanza which brings a meaningful effect. Lastly, it emphasizes on a strong message that education is important for our future.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
A Writeup on Joseph Stalin
In Animal Farm, Napoleon is parallel to Joseph Stalin in reality. Who is Joseph Stalin then? In this post, I shall do a writeup on Joseph Stalin.
Birth and Early Life
Joseph Stalin was born in Georgia in 1878. He encountered many unfortunate accidents. A horse carriage accident permanently damaged his left arm while small pox scarred his face. At the age of ten, he attended church school where the Georgian children were forced to speak Russian. He rebelled against the imperialist and religious order at the age of sixteen when he received a scholarship to the Georgian Orthodox seminary. However, he was expelled shortly because of failure in taking his final exams. Soon after, he discovered Lenin's writings and became determined to become a Marxist revolutionary, eventually joining Lenin's Bolsheviks. He became a full-time revolutionary after being marked by the Tsar's secret police. He rose in rank rapidly and became a chief operative in Caucasus, a mountainous region on the border of Asia and Europe. Through many atrocities such as bank robberies and kidnap, he tried to raise funds. In 1906, he married Ekaterina Svanidze who gave birth to his first child. He temporarily resigned from his party due to the banning of bank robberies. However, he masterminded a raid on a bank shipment which caused the deaths of 40 people. He then fled to the capital of Azerbaijan where his wife died of typhus. He claimed that "with her died any human feeling in him" at her funeral. In Azerbaijan, Stalin organised Muslims in partisan activities, including the murder of many of the Tsar's supporters. On many occasions, he was captured and sent to exile but escaped. After one of his escapes, he returned to Petrograd (now St. Petersburg) to create the party newspaper Pravda from from which he got his pen name Stalin which means steel in Russian. During his last exile, he was conscripted to join the Russian army to fight in World War I but was deemed unfit due to his damaged left arm.
Revolution and Wars
In 1917, Stalin played a huge role in the Russian Revolution. He started the Revolution after ousting his editors in the Pravda newspaper. He then took a position in supporting the Russian provisional government. However, after Lenin won at the April 1917 Party Conference, Stalin and Pravda supported the overthrowing of the provisional government. At the conference, Stalin was elected to be the Bolshevik Central Commitee. After Lenin took part in an attempted revolution, Stalin helped him to evade capture and eventually ordered the Bolsheviks to surrender to avoid a slaughter. Stalin and Lenin eventually escaped to Finland where they drafted up plans of another revolution. Lenin also became the leader of the Bolsheviks. When the October Revolution happened, Kerensky, the head of the Russian provisional government was at the German front to rally Russian soldiers. By November, the Winter Palace had been stormed and Kerensky's cabinet was arrested.
Stalin also engineered the 1921 Invasion of Georgia and he adopted a set of centralist policies towards them. This created a rift between Lenin and Stalin as Lenin believed that all Soviet states should stand equal. However, Lenin still regarded Stalin as a loyal ally. Stalin suffered a stroke in 1922 and he went into semi-retirement. Stalin visited him often so that he could keep in touch with the outside world. However, they quarrelled and their relationship deteoriated. During Lenin's semi-retirement, Stalin forged an alliance with Kamenev and Grigory Zinoviev against Trotsky. This signals the start of a power struggle between Stalin and Trotsky. When Lenin died in 1924, the disputes between Kamenev, Zinoviev and Trotsky intensified to the extent that they ejected from the Central Committee and then from the Party itself. Kamenev and Zinoviev were later readmitted while Trotsky was expelled from the country. As Stalin pushed for industrialisation and control of the economy, he contravened Lenin's New Economy Policy. In 1927, a critical fall in grain supplies prompted Stalin to seize farmer's crops.
Changes under Stalin's Rule
Under Stalin's rule, he increased the scope and power of the intelligence and secret police. Soviet intelligence forces began to set up networks in major locations worldwide. The effectiveness of this can be seen from the fact that Trotsky was assassinated in Mexico by the intelligence.
Other than the intelligence, Stalin also tried to purge leaders in the Bolsheviks who won the majority of the crowd. One example of this was Sergei Kirov. He received much less negative votes than Stalin and he was assassinated. Many trials, including the Moscow trials, were held and that started the cycle of public persecution and abuse. Besides the purges, he promoted atheism through education in schools as he thought it was easier to create a perfect communist society without the presence of another idea. By the 1930s, it was considered dangerous to be involved with religion. Many priests, monks and nuns were persecuted and killed. Much of Russia's religious buildings were demolished. About 3 to 60 million people were killed before the Soviet Union dissolved.
World War II
Before World War II, the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact with Germany after failed attempts to sign anti-German military alliance with England and France. This divided the whole of East Europe into spheres of Soviet and German influences. In 1939, German forces and Bolsheviks invaded Poland and this started World War II. The Soviet Union was given part of Poland. The Tripartite Pact was signed by the Axis Powers. In 1941, however, Hitler breaks the pact with the Soviet Union, initiating Operation Barbarossa which saw the German Invasion of Soviet Union territories. By the end of 1941, German forces had advanced deep into the Soviet Union and there were many casualties in the Soviet Army. With the help of Britain and the United States, the Soviet Union succeeded in pushing back the German army, eventually defeating Germany which initiated the suicide of German leader Adolf Hilter.
Death
In 1953, after an all-night dinner, Stalin was found unconcious in his room, probably after suffering a stroke which rendered him unable to move. 4 days later, he died at the age of 74. The cause of his death was listed as cerebral haemorrhage. However, it had been suggested that he had been assassinated. His body was preserved in Lenin's Mausoleum until 1961, when his body was removed and buried next to the Kremlin walls as a process of de-Stalinization.
I hope this post has been enriching and would give you ample knowledge in the reading of Animal Farm. Thank you.
Birth and Early Life
Joseph Stalin was born in Georgia in 1878. He encountered many unfortunate accidents. A horse carriage accident permanently damaged his left arm while small pox scarred his face. At the age of ten, he attended church school where the Georgian children were forced to speak Russian. He rebelled against the imperialist and religious order at the age of sixteen when he received a scholarship to the Georgian Orthodox seminary. However, he was expelled shortly because of failure in taking his final exams. Soon after, he discovered Lenin's writings and became determined to become a Marxist revolutionary, eventually joining Lenin's Bolsheviks. He became a full-time revolutionary after being marked by the Tsar's secret police. He rose in rank rapidly and became a chief operative in Caucasus, a mountainous region on the border of Asia and Europe. Through many atrocities such as bank robberies and kidnap, he tried to raise funds. In 1906, he married Ekaterina Svanidze who gave birth to his first child. He temporarily resigned from his party due to the banning of bank robberies. However, he masterminded a raid on a bank shipment which caused the deaths of 40 people. He then fled to the capital of Azerbaijan where his wife died of typhus. He claimed that "with her died any human feeling in him" at her funeral. In Azerbaijan, Stalin organised Muslims in partisan activities, including the murder of many of the Tsar's supporters. On many occasions, he was captured and sent to exile but escaped. After one of his escapes, he returned to Petrograd (now St. Petersburg) to create the party newspaper Pravda from from which he got his pen name Stalin which means steel in Russian. During his last exile, he was conscripted to join the Russian army to fight in World War I but was deemed unfit due to his damaged left arm.
Revolution and Wars
In 1917, Stalin played a huge role in the Russian Revolution. He started the Revolution after ousting his editors in the Pravda newspaper. He then took a position in supporting the Russian provisional government. However, after Lenin won at the April 1917 Party Conference, Stalin and Pravda supported the overthrowing of the provisional government. At the conference, Stalin was elected to be the Bolshevik Central Commitee. After Lenin took part in an attempted revolution, Stalin helped him to evade capture and eventually ordered the Bolsheviks to surrender to avoid a slaughter. Stalin and Lenin eventually escaped to Finland where they drafted up plans of another revolution. Lenin also became the leader of the Bolsheviks. When the October Revolution happened, Kerensky, the head of the Russian provisional government was at the German front to rally Russian soldiers. By November, the Winter Palace had been stormed and Kerensky's cabinet was arrested.
Stalin also engineered the 1921 Invasion of Georgia and he adopted a set of centralist policies towards them. This created a rift between Lenin and Stalin as Lenin believed that all Soviet states should stand equal. However, Lenin still regarded Stalin as a loyal ally. Stalin suffered a stroke in 1922 and he went into semi-retirement. Stalin visited him often so that he could keep in touch with the outside world. However, they quarrelled and their relationship deteoriated. During Lenin's semi-retirement, Stalin forged an alliance with Kamenev and Grigory Zinoviev against Trotsky. This signals the start of a power struggle between Stalin and Trotsky. When Lenin died in 1924, the disputes between Kamenev, Zinoviev and Trotsky intensified to the extent that they ejected from the Central Committee and then from the Party itself. Kamenev and Zinoviev were later readmitted while Trotsky was expelled from the country. As Stalin pushed for industrialisation and control of the economy, he contravened Lenin's New Economy Policy. In 1927, a critical fall in grain supplies prompted Stalin to seize farmer's crops.
Changes under Stalin's Rule
Under Stalin's rule, he increased the scope and power of the intelligence and secret police. Soviet intelligence forces began to set up networks in major locations worldwide. The effectiveness of this can be seen from the fact that Trotsky was assassinated in Mexico by the intelligence.
Other than the intelligence, Stalin also tried to purge leaders in the Bolsheviks who won the majority of the crowd. One example of this was Sergei Kirov. He received much less negative votes than Stalin and he was assassinated. Many trials, including the Moscow trials, were held and that started the cycle of public persecution and abuse. Besides the purges, he promoted atheism through education in schools as he thought it was easier to create a perfect communist society without the presence of another idea. By the 1930s, it was considered dangerous to be involved with religion. Many priests, monks and nuns were persecuted and killed. Much of Russia's religious buildings were demolished. About 3 to 60 million people were killed before the Soviet Union dissolved.
World War II
Before World War II, the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact with Germany after failed attempts to sign anti-German military alliance with England and France. This divided the whole of East Europe into spheres of Soviet and German influences. In 1939, German forces and Bolsheviks invaded Poland and this started World War II. The Soviet Union was given part of Poland. The Tripartite Pact was signed by the Axis Powers. In 1941, however, Hitler breaks the pact with the Soviet Union, initiating Operation Barbarossa which saw the German Invasion of Soviet Union territories. By the end of 1941, German forces had advanced deep into the Soviet Union and there were many casualties in the Soviet Army. With the help of Britain and the United States, the Soviet Union succeeded in pushing back the German army, eventually defeating Germany which initiated the suicide of German leader Adolf Hilter.
Death
In 1953, after an all-night dinner, Stalin was found unconcious in his room, probably after suffering a stroke which rendered him unable to move. 4 days later, he died at the age of 74. The cause of his death was listed as cerebral haemorrhage. However, it had been suggested that he had been assassinated. His body was preserved in Lenin's Mausoleum until 1961, when his body was removed and buried next to the Kremlin walls as a process of de-Stalinization.
I hope this post has been enriching and would give you ample knowledge in the reading of Animal Farm. Thank you.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Animal Farm Vocabulary: A Crossword Puzzle
Hello to all! Here is good news for crossword puzzle enthusiasts and readers of Animal Farm! I have come up with a crossword puzzle from the vocabulary in Animal Farm. Do try to solve it!
Try clicking on the image for a better view!
Vocabulary in Animal Farm
Try clicking on the image for a better view!
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Animal Farm by George Orwell
In this post, I shall be reviewing the book Animal Farm by George Orwell.
Introduction
Orwell was a socialist who believes in the foundation of communism. Socialism is where everyone is equal and nobody advances further than others. Communism is where a power rules over the entire community. This is why Orwell strongly condemns against Communism. Through his experience in the Spanish Civil War which happened during the Russian Revolution, he realised how totalitarian propaganda could have a huge impact on other democratic countries since the Russian Revolution had an effect on the Spanish Civil War.
Beginning
The book starts off as a speech by old Major, a pig, who represents Karl Marx, the foundation of modern communism. He senses that his life is about to end and thus communicates to the animals his wish and a dream he had. He expresses his wish for a rebellion against Mr Jones and his workers who have been abusing their power and have a parasitical way of taking the fruits of the animals' labour. When the animal has rendered him service and is too old to work, they are subjected to a cruel death. Old Major represents Karl Marx because he is the animal who explains the ideals of "Animalism", a parallel to communism in reality. Old Major relates his dream that he had in the previous night which depicts a scene when Man had been overthrown and the animals roamed the fertile lands of the Earth and lived in freedom. He explains that only through perfect comradeship can the animals succeed in the rebellion against the humans. However, he warns the animals not to adopt any of Man's habits as they are corrupt. However, the pigs start to turn corrupt and some of these ideals are flouted later in the story.
Three days later, old Major dies in his sleep. This is parallel to Karl Marx dying even before his ideas are realised. The organising and teaching falls to the pigs naturally since they are the "cleverest". However, this is assumed since there are other animals intellectually capable of performing the same tasks as the pigs. Here, we can see that knowledge does have a power to allow somebody to rule. In teaching the animals, it is already a human habit and it seems to betray the ideals of Animalism. Three prominent pigs emerge as the main leaders. Napoleon, a boar who has a reputation of getting his own way, Snowball, an eloquent and idealistic boar and Squealer, a silver-tongued pig who is used as a messenger. They start to plan their rebellion against the humans on the farm. The Rebellion came earlier than they thought and they succeeded in overthrowing the humans on the farm. This significant event parallels the overthrowing of the Tsar in the Russian Revolution. They formulate the principles of Major's speech into the Seven Commandments. However, due to the lack of intellect in some animals, they reduced it into a simple sentence: "Four legs good, two legs bad." Before they started their harvest, the pigs milked the cows and put them in buckets. This is a human habit and shows another betrayal of the principles of Animalism. The farmhouse was decided to be preserved as a museum.
Betrayal of the Principles of Animalism
After the harvest, the animals find out that the milk is missing. They soon find out that the milk was taken by the pigs for their own consumption. Not only that, they were also given all the windfall apples in the orchard. However, Squealer is sent to explain to the animals that they were the brainworkers of the farm and deserved it even though they hated milk and apples. He even threatened the animals by saying that Jones would come back if they did not eat apples and drink milk. This betrays the principles of Animalism as not all animals are equal anymore. This also marks the start of the corruption by the pigs which continues with other acts such as:
1. The pigs sleep in the farmhouse which was supposed to be preserved as a museum which betrays the principle "No animal shall sleep in beds." which gradually changed into "No animal shall sleep in beds with sheets."
2. The pigs retrieve beer from the scullery of the farmhouse and drinks it, which gave Napoleon a headache whom he claims he s dying. It betrays the principle "No animal shall drink alcohol." which gradually changes into "No animals shall drink alcohol to excess."
3. Napoleon orders the animals to confess to their "crimes" in Animal Farm such as collaborating with Snowball to destroy the windmill, dreaming about Snowball, stealing six ears of corn from their harvest and other absurd acts. Then, Napoleon orders his dogs to tear the throats of the animals and even attempts to perform it on Boxer, which he protects himself from. This is a serious act which betrays the principle of "No animal shall kill another animal." which gradually changes into "No animal shall kill another animal without cause." At the same time, it contradicts the principle "Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend."
4. Napoleon starts putting on clothes which were worn by Mr Jones before. Mr Jones represent the power over Animal Farm in the past. In wearing the clothes of Mr Jones, Napoleon is holding power of the farm and this betrays the principle "No animal shall wear clothes." and "All animals are equal."
5. Soon, Napoleon starts engaging with the humans in trade of timber wood. This act betrays the principles "No animal shall engage in trade with humans." and 'Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy." By trading with the humans, they are not regarding humans as enemies at all.
6. The principle of "All animals are equal." had been betrayed throughout the many instances in the story. Firstly, the pigs were the ones keeping all the apples and milk for themselves. Then, they committed many atrocities which are listed above. The betrayal of a principle in the Seven Commandments is actually betraying the principle of "All animals are equal."
A Parallel Dimension to Reality
In the story, there are many events and characters which resemble real life people. These characters and events are used to criticise communism during George Orwell's time. Old Major represents Karl Marx, the founder of socialism, Jones represents the Tsar and with his workers, they form the monarchy in reality, the group which has total control over the country, Moses represents religion, which the communists opposed against at first but used it later to pacify the oppressed, Napoleon represents Joseph Stalin, the supreme ruler of the Soviet Union, Snowball represents Leon Trotsky, who was expelled from the Soviet Union by Joseph Stalin, Squealer represents the propaganda, Animal Farm represents the Soviet Union while Napoleon's dogs were the military.
Conclusion
Animal Farm has created a world of the Russian Revolution from which we can learn many moral values George Orwell tries to communicate with his readers. At the same time, we can see how he tries to criticise communism and propaganda and how socialism gradually changes into communism due to corruption and the thirst for power.
Introduction
Animal Farm was written by George Orwell in from 1943 to 1945. It was published in 1945, on the 17th of August. It was based on his experience during the Spanish Civil War and the Russian Revolution. Although many call Animal Farm a fable, I do not think so. A fable is a fantasy story which utilizes animal characters or mythical beings and objects who are given human characteristics to impart a lesson or a moral. However, George Orwell wrote it as an allegory as it parallels the events that happened during the Russian Revolution. George Orwell is using the animals to criticise the events that happened.
Beginning
The book starts off as a speech by old Major, a pig, who represents Karl Marx, the foundation of modern communism. He senses that his life is about to end and thus communicates to the animals his wish and a dream he had. He expresses his wish for a rebellion against Mr Jones and his workers who have been abusing their power and have a parasitical way of taking the fruits of the animals' labour. When the animal has rendered him service and is too old to work, they are subjected to a cruel death. Old Major represents Karl Marx because he is the animal who explains the ideals of "Animalism", a parallel to communism in reality. Old Major relates his dream that he had in the previous night which depicts a scene when Man had been overthrown and the animals roamed the fertile lands of the Earth and lived in freedom. He explains that only through perfect comradeship can the animals succeed in the rebellion against the humans. However, he warns the animals not to adopt any of Man's habits as they are corrupt. However, the pigs start to turn corrupt and some of these ideals are flouted later in the story.
Three days later, old Major dies in his sleep. This is parallel to Karl Marx dying even before his ideas are realised. The organising and teaching falls to the pigs naturally since they are the "cleverest". However, this is assumed since there are other animals intellectually capable of performing the same tasks as the pigs. Here, we can see that knowledge does have a power to allow somebody to rule. In teaching the animals, it is already a human habit and it seems to betray the ideals of Animalism. Three prominent pigs emerge as the main leaders. Napoleon, a boar who has a reputation of getting his own way, Snowball, an eloquent and idealistic boar and Squealer, a silver-tongued pig who is used as a messenger. They start to plan their rebellion against the humans on the farm. The Rebellion came earlier than they thought and they succeeded in overthrowing the humans on the farm. This significant event parallels the overthrowing of the Tsar in the Russian Revolution. They formulate the principles of Major's speech into the Seven Commandments. However, due to the lack of intellect in some animals, they reduced it into a simple sentence: "Four legs good, two legs bad." Before they started their harvest, the pigs milked the cows and put them in buckets. This is a human habit and shows another betrayal of the principles of Animalism. The farmhouse was decided to be preserved as a museum.
Betrayal of the Principles of Animalism
After the harvest, the animals find out that the milk is missing. They soon find out that the milk was taken by the pigs for their own consumption. Not only that, they were also given all the windfall apples in the orchard. However, Squealer is sent to explain to the animals that they were the brainworkers of the farm and deserved it even though they hated milk and apples. He even threatened the animals by saying that Jones would come back if they did not eat apples and drink milk. This betrays the principles of Animalism as not all animals are equal anymore. This also marks the start of the corruption by the pigs which continues with other acts such as:
1. The pigs sleep in the farmhouse which was supposed to be preserved as a museum which betrays the principle "No animal shall sleep in beds." which gradually changed into "No animal shall sleep in beds with sheets."
2. The pigs retrieve beer from the scullery of the farmhouse and drinks it, which gave Napoleon a headache whom he claims he s dying. It betrays the principle "No animal shall drink alcohol." which gradually changes into "No animals shall drink alcohol to excess."
3. Napoleon orders the animals to confess to their "crimes" in Animal Farm such as collaborating with Snowball to destroy the windmill, dreaming about Snowball, stealing six ears of corn from their harvest and other absurd acts. Then, Napoleon orders his dogs to tear the throats of the animals and even attempts to perform it on Boxer, which he protects himself from. This is a serious act which betrays the principle of "No animal shall kill another animal." which gradually changes into "No animal shall kill another animal without cause." At the same time, it contradicts the principle "Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend."
4. Napoleon starts putting on clothes which were worn by Mr Jones before. Mr Jones represent the power over Animal Farm in the past. In wearing the clothes of Mr Jones, Napoleon is holding power of the farm and this betrays the principle "No animal shall wear clothes." and "All animals are equal."
5. Soon, Napoleon starts engaging with the humans in trade of timber wood. This act betrays the principles "No animal shall engage in trade with humans." and 'Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy." By trading with the humans, they are not regarding humans as enemies at all.
6. The principle of "All animals are equal." had been betrayed throughout the many instances in the story. Firstly, the pigs were the ones keeping all the apples and milk for themselves. Then, they committed many atrocities which are listed above. The betrayal of a principle in the Seven Commandments is actually betraying the principle of "All animals are equal."
A Parallel Dimension to Reality
In the story, there are many events and characters which resemble real life people. These characters and events are used to criticise communism during George Orwell's time. Old Major represents Karl Marx, the founder of socialism, Jones represents the Tsar and with his workers, they form the monarchy in reality, the group which has total control over the country, Moses represents religion, which the communists opposed against at first but used it later to pacify the oppressed, Napoleon represents Joseph Stalin, the supreme ruler of the Soviet Union, Snowball represents Leon Trotsky, who was expelled from the Soviet Union by Joseph Stalin, Squealer represents the propaganda, Animal Farm represents the Soviet Union while Napoleon's dogs were the military.
Conclusion
Animal Farm has created a world of the Russian Revolution from which we can learn many moral values George Orwell tries to communicate with his readers. At the same time, we can see how he tries to criticise communism and propaganda and how socialism gradually changes into communism due to corruption and the thirst for power.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
The Shanghai World Expo is here!
Hello to all! I've not been posting for sometime and I have returned to blog just in time for the Shanghai World Expo. Firstly, I would like to present a short introduction.
The Shanghai World Expo 2010 is part of a series of World Fairs. The first was held in 1851 in London under the title “Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations”. It was an idea of Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert and it was the first international exhibition to showcase manufactured products. Thus, it influenced the many different aspects of society. It was the precedent for the many international exhibitions. The main attractions are the national pavillions of different countries at which countries would showcase their products on the world stage.
Moving on to the Shanghai World Expo 2010, it is being held on both banks of the Huangpu River in Shanghai, China. The theme of the exposition is "Better City – Better Life" and signifies Shanghai's new status in the 21st century as the "next great world city". Over 190 countries and more than 150 international organisations have registered to participate in the exhbition. More than 70-100 million people worldwide are expected to arrive at the exhibition.
The opening ceremony, during which Chinese president Hu Jintao marked the start of the six-month expo, was lit up by a lavish riverside display of fireworks, lasers and high technologies.
China is the first developing country to host a world expo, as such, it is a great opportunity for China and the world. I believe China would be able to take on the challenge of hosting the world expo that would greatly boost the country's image and showcase to the world their culture and way of life. I have come to the end of my post, I hope you have gained something.
The Shanghai World Expo 2010 is part of a series of World Fairs. The first was held in 1851 in London under the title “Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations”. It was an idea of Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert and it was the first international exhibition to showcase manufactured products. Thus, it influenced the many different aspects of society. It was the precedent for the many international exhibitions. The main attractions are the national pavillions of different countries at which countries would showcase their products on the world stage.
Moving on to the Shanghai World Expo 2010, it is being held on both banks of the Huangpu River in Shanghai, China. The theme of the exposition is "Better City – Better Life" and signifies Shanghai's new status in the 21st century as the "next great world city". Over 190 countries and more than 150 international organisations have registered to participate in the exhbition. More than 70-100 million people worldwide are expected to arrive at the exhibition.
The opening ceremony, during which Chinese president Hu Jintao marked the start of the six-month expo, was lit up by a lavish riverside display of fireworks, lasers and high technologies.
China is the first developing country to host a world expo, as such, it is a great opportunity for China and the world. I believe China would be able to take on the challenge of hosting the world expo that would greatly boost the country's image and showcase to the world their culture and way of life. I have come to the end of my post, I hope you have gained something.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)