Brian Rose
Ms. Melville
English 1
October 29, 2008
In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the saying “only the strong survive” prevails. The difference is, it’s not the physically strong, but the mentally strong that survive. By mentally strong, I mean people who master the story, not people who let the story master them. In Animal Farm, you have to assert yourself. You can never question the pigs, and you need to get along with them. It is conducive of your survival to not let all the stories master you. The people who told stories and the people who didn’t believe them survived. In Animal Farm, the way you respond to the stories has a strong connection to your ability to survive.
One way to be portrayed in Animal Farm is to be to master the story. One example of a character that masters the story is Squealer. He can add spin to any story to trick the animals. Squealer can change a story to make Napoleon look great. A perfect example from the story is when the other animals found out that the pigs were sleeping in the farmhouse beds. “You heard then, comrades, that we pigs are sleeping in beds. A bed is mealy a place to sleep. A bail of hay is a bed.” If you remember, the 4th commandment says, “No animals shall sleep in beds”. So if no animals shall sleep in beds, the pigs shouldn’t sleep I beds either. Because Squealer masters the story, he survives.
On the contrary, George Orwell portrays Boxer in a totally different way. One-way, Boxer is portrayed as the animal that lets the story master him. Boxer was a pushover who did whatever he was told. Another way George Orwell portrays Boxer is, he always believed that Napoleon is God. Boxer worked himself until he couldn’t work anymore. He always thought, "I will work harder, I will work harder". Finally, He worked way past Napoleons retirement age. So when he was so old that he couldn’t work any more, he went to Napoleon. Napoleon lied and was so greedy and he was so selfish for the only person who really obeyed him, Napoleon instead of granting Boxer retirement, he sold him to the slaughterer that would parts of Boxer to make glue.
Another example of George Orwell portraying a character of mastering the story is Frederick and Pilkington. They master the story by adding spin to the whole story of the rebellion. They said that the rebellion would not last. They said that the animals are stupid." They animals will need humans". Another example of them adding spin to the story of the rebellion is when they said that the animals are not going to survive. "Who will feed them"," Who will clean their stalls". Another example of them adding spin to the story is when they say that they will kill each other. They said that the "terrible wickedness will get to them". They said that the animals would practice cannibalism. For mastering the story, Fredrick and Pilkington survive.
The way you decide to respond to the rebellion decides your fait. The point is that Squealer masters the story, and he survived. Boxer lets the story master him and he dies. Frederick and Pilkington master the story, and they survive. Animal Farm has a strong connection to the crisis in Russia during the 1940’s. The Russian people let Stalin’s stories master them. The people who did not petition Stalin died. The Russian people and Boxer made the mistake of letting the story master them.
1 comment:
What you have here so far is good Brian. Your conclusion paragraph is very strong.
For revision, you need to add more examples to your body paragraphs. You only have one example of Squealer twisting a story. You also need to add conclusion sentences for each of your body paragraphs that show each characters' fate. Also, check your quotes in your paragraph about Frederick and Pilkington.
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