Zusammenfassung der Ressource
"Animal Farm" by
George Orwell
- The Danger of Silence (TED Talk)
- The speaker in this TED Talk tried to say that situations need to be
confronted; leaving an issue be gives it the opportunity to become worse.
- Some of the animals on the farm allow the
situation to get worse because they sense that the
pigs have bad intentions yet they do nothing.
- "Only old Benjamin professed to remember every detail of his long life and to know
that things never had been, noor ever could be much better or much worse" (89).
- The fact that he remembers the entirety of his life (as well as
other evidence) reveals that Benjamin is aware of the pigs'
ulterior motives. It is possible that if he had spoken up sooner or
told others then many of these issure could have been prevented.
- If he had realized the detrimental effects silence can have, the lengths the rebellion went to could have been
minimized. Benjamin speaking up rather than being silenced could have prevented the future pain of others.
- Surfacing
- Surfacing shares a common theme of reality
vs. fantasy with Animal Farm.
- In Surfacing, the narrator masks the difficult truth of
her abortion by fabricating the memory of a wedding.
- This is similar to how the animals in Orwell's work
accept the lies the pigs tell them as it is easier to live
in the fastasy that they have a good life.
- Squealer attempts to turn the animals against Snowball, who was actually good: "Do you not remember how, just at the moment when Jones and his men had got inside the yard, Snowball suddenly turned and fled, and many
animals followed him? And do you not remember, to, that it was just at that moment, when panic was spreading and all seemed lost, that Comrade Napoleon spring forward with a cry of 'Death to Humanity!' and sank his teeth
in Jones's leg? Surely you remember that, comrades?" exclaimed Squealer, frisking from side to side. Now when Squealer described the scene so graphically, it seemed to the animals that they did remember it" (Orwell 59).
- It would be more difficult for the animals to retaliate against the pigs, and because they have so
much trust in their leaders, it would be upsetting for them to discover they have been lied to.
- This is similar to the narrator in Surfacing, who doesn't want to remember the
sadness and emptiness that came with the abortion so she accepts a simpler idea.
- 1984 (George Orwell)
- 1984, another of Orwell's work, also demonstrates
the rewriting of history as a key idea and tactic in
making the citizens believe all of the leaser's lies.
- It was "noticed that there was yet another
[commandment] which the animals had
remembered wrong" and now, "the
Commandment read: 'No animal shall drink
alcohol to excess'" (76).
- In 1984, Winston Smith himself rewrites national history, and
whatever he is told to say instead is just accepted by the public.
Example: the swtich between being at war with Eastasia to Eurasia
- This alteration that the public believes can be compared to how the
pigs keep changing which neighbouring farm they are enemies with.
- In both cases, the leader manipulates their followers into believing whatever
they say by re-writing history and pretending previous beliefs never existed.
- The Great
Gatsby (F. Scott
Fitzgerald)
- Both Fitzgerald's novel and Orwell's
demonstrate studies of class, and
the inequalities among them.
- "All animals are equal but some animals
are more equal than others" (91).
- This new commandment demonstrates the fact that although the animals are technically
in the same class, there are those who are superior to others.
- This is similar to the way in which most of the main characters in The Great Gatsby belong to the saem class by technicality, but there
are superiors. Nick is taken in by these people and is considered inferior, while those like Gatsby and Daisy are regarded highly.
- World
- The animals on Manor/Animal
Farm represent the history of
Soviet Communism.
- Example: Napoleon and Snowball
respectively portray Joseph Stalin
and Leon Trotsky (Communist Party
Leaders).
- The themes of oppression and
suffering are exhibited in the same
way it was in Russian society under
Joseph Stalin's rule.
- The novel is somewhat a
commentary on/study of types
of leadership and the strengths
and weaknesses of each.
- For example, the novel contrasts the
styles of Napoleon and Snowball. It
contrasts the kinder and more democratic
approach of Snowball versus the harsh,
demanding, and dictatorial ways.
- Generally, studies show that kind approaches
work better in cases where one wants another
to obey them. This piece of writing is a
commentary on this in a way, supporting the
fact that quality of life will decline with a more
dictatorial figure.
- The fact that during a period of kinder leadership the
farm thrived and living conditions were improved is a
supporting argument in the debate of which method of
leadership is more effective.