Here is my final essay for my Global studies class. It is a combined english and history class. The assignment was to write a paper on what book we thought was the most significant we read. I chose Animal Farm by George Orwell
Thank you!
Liam Cashin
Laflamme/Fitzpatrick
Global Studies Psp
June 2, 2010
Final Essay
Animal Farm by George Orwell is the most important novel of the year because it shows how a perfectly normal society can be torn apart by one person or one group of people and his use of animals portrays how the consequences can rip apart what is left of the normal society. In Animal Farm, Orwell uses a barnyard as his setting to show the effects of a take over. By using the animals Orwell can tell the story with out offending some one and since it is a fictional story it helps people to understand the hard times and the bad things that happen to the farm because of the power switch.
In the first chapter of the novel Orwell portrays a picture of a farm owned by a man named Mr. Jones. Mr. Jones is a very heavy drinker and neglects the animals to the point where they revolt against him. The most respected pig on the farm Major tells the other animals that they should rebel against the humans and run the farm on there own. The animals rebel and run Mr Jones off the farm which is then left under the command of Napoleon and Snowball two younger pigs. The animals rename the farm "Animal Farm." The animals even paint the seven commandments on the wall of the barn the seventh being the most important, all animals are equal. During the course of the novel we see that this is untrue. This relates to what we have learned in class this year. For example when Hitler or Stalin took control of their countries they took advantage of bad situations and said they could make them better just as the pigs did in the novel. The use of animals make this easier to understand in my mind which is my main reason for choosing this book.
As the story in the novel progresses we see how what was supposed to be a communist like government turn into a democracy then into a dictatorship. When the animals first took over the farm they worked it as a almost communist like society. However as things happen in the book Napoleon slowly starts taking totally control. The far turns into a dictatorship when Napoleon has his dogs (which he acquired by taking the dogs puppies and training them in private) chase Snowball off the farm for "stealing" his idea for a windmill which we know is untrue. Once Snowball is gone he becomes a scapegoat for anything that Napoleon does not like on the farm. When the windmill is knocked down in a storm he blames Snowball. After this he starts killing animals that he suspects to be talking to Snowball. When Trujillo ruled the Dominican Republic he killed people he though were going against him. Orwell uses Napoleon as a metaphor to human dictators.
This book is my favorit book that we read this year in Global Studies. The authors use of animals got me intrested in the novel more then any other book that we read. The book was a fairly easy read and I enjoyed it. Through out the novel I felt I got to know the charecters. I also feel that the novel is not just relovent to one specfic time peroid but that it is significant to all time peroids and that Orwell hit the head on the when he wrote this book to comment on the human race and the governments that run it.
Orwell's use of farm animals in the novel Animal Farm helps people understand his comentary on human society. The animals let people understand the effects of a dictatorship such as hitlers or stalins and help to not offend anyone when Napoleon has animals killed for going against him. The barnyard setting and the government set up by the pigs then taken over by one sole pig shows how a utopia can spiral into something it was never supposed to be.
Thank you!
Liam Cashin
Laflamme/Fitzpatrick
Global Studies Psp
June 2, 2010
Final Essay
Animal Farm by George Orwell is the most important novel of the year because it shows how a perfectly normal society can be torn apart by one person or one group of people and his use of animals portrays how the consequences can rip apart what is left of the normal society. In Animal Farm, Orwell uses a barnyard as his setting to show the effects of a take over. By using the animals Orwell can tell the story with out offending some one and since it is a fictional story it helps people to understand the hard times and the bad things that happen to the farm because of the power switch.
In the first chapter of the novel Orwell portrays a picture of a farm owned by a man named Mr. Jones. Mr. Jones is a very heavy drinker and neglects the animals to the point where they revolt against him. The most respected pig on the farm Major tells the other animals that they should rebel against the humans and run the farm on there own. The animals rebel and run Mr Jones off the farm which is then left under the command of Napoleon and Snowball two younger pigs. The animals rename the farm "Animal Farm." The animals even paint the seven commandments on the wall of the barn the seventh being the most important, all animals are equal. During the course of the novel we see that this is untrue. This relates to what we have learned in class this year. For example when Hitler or Stalin took control of their countries they took advantage of bad situations and said they could make them better just as the pigs did in the novel. The use of animals make this easier to understand in my mind which is my main reason for choosing this book.
As the story in the novel progresses we see how what was supposed to be a communist like government turn into a democracy then into a dictatorship. When the animals first took over the farm they worked it as a almost communist like society. However as things happen in the book Napoleon slowly starts taking totally control. The far turns into a dictatorship when Napoleon has his dogs (which he acquired by taking the dogs puppies and training them in private) chase Snowball off the farm for "stealing" his idea for a windmill which we know is untrue. Once Snowball is gone he becomes a scapegoat for anything that Napoleon does not like on the farm. When the windmill is knocked down in a storm he blames Snowball. After this he starts killing animals that he suspects to be talking to Snowball. When Trujillo ruled the Dominican Republic he killed people he though were going against him. Orwell uses Napoleon as a metaphor to human dictators.
This book is my favorit book that we read this year in Global Studies. The authors use of animals got me intrested in the novel more then any other book that we read. The book was a fairly easy read and I enjoyed it. Through out the novel I felt I got to know the charecters. I also feel that the novel is not just relovent to one specfic time peroid but that it is significant to all time peroids and that Orwell hit the head on the when he wrote this book to comment on the human race and the governments that run it.
Orwell's use of farm animals in the novel Animal Farm helps people understand his comentary on human society. The animals let people understand the effects of a dictatorship such as hitlers or stalins and help to not offend anyone when Napoleon has animals killed for going against him. The barnyard setting and the government set up by the pigs then taken over by one sole pig shows how a utopia can spiral into something it was never supposed to be.
