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1984

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Questions about Animal Farm

Are there any current situations in the world that relate to the novel? What are they, and how do they relate? Does the novel shed any light on how current situations could be resolved or "fixed"?

I don't think that there is a country that has the same situation as Animal Farm. Animal Farm was written based on Russia's situation a long time ago and there is no country in current times that uses the same government systems as Russia used to use. So the closest I can get to a similar situation is North Korea. This is only because North Korea still has dictatorship and brain washing. But if you look at Animal Farm's situation in a different way you could say that every country has the same situation. Every country has rulers, corruptness, common people working their backs off for their country, government people cheating from the goods common people made, etc. Everything that goes on secretly is the same that happened in Animal Farm.
No, the book does not say how this problem can be fixed. In Animal Farm the farm became poorer and poorer while the pigs didn't submit and ask for help to the people. They stubbornly tried to show off while it was obvious that in a few years Animal Farm would no longer exist. Showing off, lying, and cheating are all part of man's nature. I don't think you can really correct that in a person.

Questions about Animal Farm

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What is the mood of this novel? Do you find this novel saddens you in any way? why?

The mood of this novel is ironic and sly. At first animal farm was supposed to be a perfect world with equalities but later the pigs took over the whole farm and started cheating on other animals. I don't really think the mood makes me sad but it does make me mad. Cheating and lying are all part of the same cycle. The cycle never stops. I think cheating and lying are some factors of a person's natural characteristics. So I don't feel sad at seeing something repeated in societies but I feel anger and disappointment in people.

Questions about Animal Farm

Who are the main characters in the novel? Do you like them? Why or why not? what is special about them? What do they reveal about the universal human experience?

I think the main characters are the pigs, especially Napoleon the leader of the whole farm. Napoleon doesn't come out in every scene or do something striking during working times but everything evolves around him. The pigs make decisions under the supervision of Napoleon, they break all the rules and remake them again, and they order the whole farm to work while they don't do anything. They are in charge of the whole farm. I personally don't like them but I do know that the other animals liked them. The animals of the farm weren't really understanding the whole situation. They didn't realize that the pigs were living like kings off from the work of other animals. Now who would like to be used like that? No one. One policy I have is that people who have more power and more responsibility shouldn't be cheating or bullying someone under their rule. Its really morally wrong and cowardly. I do have to admit that the pigs were good at brainwashing animals to believe that they were doing right and good things. They also cleverly re-wrote the 7 major laws and told lies that couldn't be detected by other animals. Still I can't say that people in this world don't cheat off people in a lesser status than they are in. There are many powerful people in high status' that cleverly cheat people and never get caught. Even though they know its morally wrong they just do it because they know that there is a lot thats in for them. No one can change people from stopping their cheating and using people. Only God can change their hearts and the only thing people who actually know whats going on can do is speak up and let them know what's going on.

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Questions about animal farm

1. What is the climax of this novel? What happened? How do the events of this novel make you feel?

I thought that the climax of this novel was when the rule of the pigs began to become corrupt. Napoleon, the pig leader of the whole farm, took the rule from the other pig's, snowball, "party" because he thought they were cheating others in the farm. Later he started taking rule and did the same things snowball did, cheat off the other animals. The downfall of all the good intentions was the climax. There was a flaw in all the hopes of a perfect world. No one could go back to where they started after the ones in power became corrupt. As usual I feel mad and angry for the common animals who were cheated. But its the truth. Almost every country's government is corrupt and they cheat on the common people who are working to support the country. So being mad and angry won't solve any problems. I don't really know if its possible to have no problems in your government. Everyone has different opinions and it might be wrong but you'll be fighting for it. There really is nothing I can do but fight back with what I believe is right.

Questions about Aimal farm.

Choose one passage from the novel that is significant to you. Why is this passage meaningful? Please type it into one of our entries and comment on what you think about the passage.

Pg 78 second paragraph

And yet the animals never gave up hope. More, they never lost, even for an instant, their sense of honour and privilege in being members of Animal Farm. They were still the only farm in the whole country - in all England! - owned and operated by animals. not one of them, not even the youngest, not even the newcomers who had been brought from farms ten or twenty miles away, ever ceased to marvel at threat. And when they heard the gun booming and saw the green flag fluttering at the masthead, their hearts swelled with imperishable pride, and the talk turned always toward the old heroic days, the expulsion of Jones, the writing of the Seven Commandments, the great battles in which the human invaders had been defeated. None of the old dreams had been abandoned. The republic of the Animals which Major had foretold, when the green fields of England should be untrodden by human feet, was still believed in. Some day it was coming: it might not be soon, it might not be within the lifetime of any animal now living , but still it was coming.

This passage was directly showing the brainwashed animals' thoughts on dictatorship. No matter how hard they worked, how lazy they were, how big they were, or how much they ate they were treated and valued the same. They all had the same status and were given the same payment. They didn't really understand all corners to this type of governing. It was actually cheating laboring animals and giving tons of advantages to the pigs and the dogs who just lived off their labour. But how would the lambs, horses, and other animals know that? So they end up being so pround of their "country" or farm that actually cheats off the citizens who work to make the country live and improve. Its really honorable of them to be pround of their home but it is really sad that there is actually more happening then they actually realize. They are wanting communism to spread all over the world but it will actually kill them and devestate them first.

Questions on Animal Farm

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What is the main theme of this novel? Why is this theme important to a teenager living in 2008?

I thought that the main theme of this novel was totalism like George Orwell's other dystopian novel, 1984. Basically there was a farm that was ruled by a group of animals, the pigs and the dogs, who played the act of the government. The common "people" or animals labored hard for the whole farm and produced the products while the pigs and the dogs lived off their labor doing nothing but acting all powerful. The dogs and pigs were in total order and power. They got to rule, not labor, get better food and sleeping places, etc. No other animal could even think of going against their rules because they couldn't even think that they were being cheated. Like 1984, those in power control ed everything starting from work time to even thinking. Orwell did a really good job explaining how the totalism government worked and why common people couldn't get out of the lifestyle circle. This is important to me as a teenager because there are still totalism governments in the 21century at work. One day I might be fighting for the people who are trapped inside their own totalian world. I would need to understand what the people are going through to understand what weaknesses there are to this type of government systems. I might even move to a country that is powered by totalian polices.

A new goddess!!!!

If you could be any Greek god or goddess, what kind of qualities would you like to have?
Superhuman strength? Lightning bolts to throw at people? What would you physically look like? Hair full of snakes like Medusa? One huge eye like the Cyclops?

If I could be any Greek goddess I would have the power to change the apperance of people and be able to predict the future of people. It just seems interesting to make up a myth about how a goddess changes the apperance of people as they grow. Greek people made up myths to explain why something occured so wouldn't they have thought of why some people's appearances changed as they grew? I would definitely wonder why. Thats why I want to have the power to be in charge of that. Also I was facinated at the power to predict people's lives. I know it would be useless because I can't stop the present from happening and impossible, I still wish I could predict the future.

I would have wings of course but like a butterfly's. The top of my body would be human and the bottom half would be anything. As a goddess of change in appearance I would be able to change the bottom half of my body to whatever thing I wanted it to be.

Greek monsters!!!

Research about one Greek mythological monster. Summarize your findings and explain on the monster terrorized humans and/or how it got defeated. Include a picture of the monster you chose.

picture from: http://www.rainbowcrystal.com/egypt/E-28sphinx.jpg

research from: www.wikipedia.com

The sphinx was a mythological figure who had a body of a lion and a humans head. The sphinx was a female. According to greek mythology there was only one sphinx who was a demon and a sign of bad luck. She guarded the enterance to the city of Thebes and asked riddles to people trying to go into the city. If they could answer the riddle she let them go but if they couldn't she ate them. No one was able to find the answer and one day a man named Oedipus solved the riddle. The sphinx was so embarrassed that she threw herself off a cliff.

Greek GODS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Summarize your findings, then compare and contrast the god or goddess you chose to Hercules. How are their personalities, character traits, and stories similar? How are they different? Include a picture of your god or goddess.

Athena is the goddess of wisdom, strategy and war in Greek mythology. She is the daughter of Zeus and Metis. Her birth story is really interesting. Zeus heard of a prophesy that the children that Metis bore would become greater than the father. So he decided to swallow her before she could bear any children. But Metis was already pregnant and she gave birth to Athena. Since Metis was inside Zeus, Athena, fully grown, emerged from a crack in Zeus' head that someone made. (The Greek Myths by Robert Graves 8.a, ff.) From the time she was born she was a goddess. She didn't earn her way to become a god because both of her parents were gods.

Her trademarks were an owl, a goatskin breastplate called Aegis , with a helmet, and a shield with Gorgon Medusa's head. She was also accompanied by Nike, the goddess of victory.

source: wikipedia.com

picture from: http://imagesearch.naver.com/search.naver

The similarities between Athena and Hercules is that they are both skillful at war and fighting.

They are both Zeus' children and they also help or fight for what they think is right. But that is the end to their similarities. Athena is totally a goddess while Herculese is just a hero. I think that their personalities would be really different. As a godddess Athena would need to think carefully about everything she did and she is more well rounded at many different things because she is a goddess. Hercules can just think about minor stuff and he isn't good at everything because he is just a person. Hecules fought for his loved one while Athena helped people for good deeds they did and she never had a loved one.

Questions about 1984

Q: What is the mood of this novel? Do you find this novel saddens you in any way? Why?

I thought that the moods of this novel were inhuman and oppresive. If I could choose a color to match the mood the coor would be plain dark gray. Everythings just blurred out and inside the mood everythings real and alive but fading and dead at the same time. The setting of the book can't be even imagined. A place where every move is watched and controlled is really scary. Being tortured to the point of admitting that you did things that you actually didn't do is inhuman. Just thinking about living in that kind of world is really scary and sad. How could anyone bear to live there let alone believe that the party is alwasy correct? Its really unthinkable.

Questions about 1984

Q: Who are the main characters in the novel? Do you like them? Why or why not? What is special about them? What do they reveal about the universal human experience?

The main character of this novel is Winston Smith. Other characters that come out a lot but aren't as important as Winston are O' Brien and Julia. I personally don't like any of the characters but I did admire Winston. Winston is an ordinary person who tries to find the truth about the world he is living in and wants to find a better place to live in. That really is challenging. Julia to me just seems like a little girl trying to break rules and not get caught. She's just someone you meet once in your life. You can be a close friend to her or be an enemy but nothing more than that. O' Brien is someone who loves the party dearly and he would do anything to anyone to make them submit to the party. To me he's just this crazy person messing up people's lives. Hes really cruel and inhuman. The characters show parts of people characteristics. Being curious about rebelling against upper powers, fighting for what's right to you, and using every way possible to get people do what you want. Its what you can see in any normal person.

Questions on 1984

Q: What is the climax of this novel? What happens? How do the events of this novel make you feel?

The climax is defined as the event where the character experiences a point of no return. The event in this novel when Winston experienced a point of no return was when he met O' Brien and confessed that he wanted to join in a rebellion against the party. He and Julia admitted and confirmed their rebellion and told another person about it. Because you can't trust anyone in this dystopian world whatever you tell someone can't be changed. Winston was totally going toward a rebellion and there was no turning back for him. They didn't know anything about O' Brien even the fact that he loved the party and he was one of the thought police. After the meeting with O' Brien Winston and Julia were constantly watched and eventually captured and tortured. They were brainwashed and eventually they give up. Even though they know that they are right. Winston in particular just admits that O' Brien and the party is right. He submits to everything they want him to do. Instead of pity and anger at them giving in, I felt more sympathy and understanding. How much torture could be given to you to make you surrender to someone and agree that you'll brainwash yourself? It would be devastating to have to submit to something that is totally against what you think because that is the only way to live. But that's just something common in a dystopian world. Can you imagine what it would be like?

Questions about 1984

Q: Are there any settings in this novel which you have found to be beautiful? or disturbing? Describe these settings and comment on why they were meaningful to you.

Page 7

He tried to squeeze out some childhood memory that should tell him whether London had always been quite like this. Were there always these vistas of rotting nineteenth-century houses, their sides shored up with balks of timber, their windows patched with cardboard and their roofs with corrugated iron, their crazy garden walls sagging in all directions? And the bombed sites where the plaster dust swirled in the air and the willow herb straggled over the heaps of rubble; and the places where the bombs had cleared a larger path and there had sprung up sordid colonies of wooden dwellings like chicken houses?

This setting was disturbing to me because people in the book don't even remember what everything looked like and they don't care. The Party that is "caring" for them makes a main city all in covered in debris and falling apart. If the future is like that and everyone is brainwashed to the extent of not recognizing devastation that is the worst thing that can happen to man. What's the point of living like that? At the rate the current world is going on about fighting and unifying the situation in 1984 can be possible. We can't just say that its just a book and ignore it. We need to consider it and try to prevent it from happening. Just like the extinction of animals. Many people used to say that it is impossible to wipe out a whole species but in just a few years we wiped out not one but many species. Nobody looked out for it and prevented it until extinction actually happened. So thats why this passaged stood out to me and made me concerned about the whole idea on totalism.

Intro to 1984

George Orwell, the author of 1984, was famous for writing satires on totalism. He wrote 1984 based on his fears of a bureaucratized state of the future. The book is in a dystopian setting, in a world that we can barely imagine. The main character, Will Smith, is just an ordinary,weak, and powerless guy who tries to bring the truth out to society. His job in the party is to record history to the modified version of what the party wants to tell people. He begins to question about what the party says and tries to find fault in the party to tell more people on how their are living like robots.

CITATION:http://www.levity.com/corduroy/orwell.html
http://www.online-literature.com/orwell/1984/

Questions about 1984

1. Are there any current situations in the world that relate to the novel?

Yes, I think that there are many coutries that still live in a brainwashed society even today. The most similar example can be North Korea. Everyone is brainwashed and they know nothing more than what the government tells them. Kim Jong-Ill is like "Big Brother" who everyone adores and thinks highly of. North Koreans have a ration on everything like they do in the book 1984. The history they know is all modified and they hear about victories of their country but actually they are suffering inside their own country and they hold no threat or a great importance in the world. People are closely watched and a little mistake can make them in BIG trouble. In the book, 1984, the main characters Winston and Julia think of breaking rules and not getting caught. Personally I don't think that North Korean people can rebel this way toward the government because they don't feel that they are living in a bad situation and the police is much more tense there. Once in a while a person might find out a better life or they might be running away from capture. Then they will think of escaping over to Korea or China. But many people can't think of escaping and even if they do a the majority of those people get caught.