Question of the Day - Allegory

An allegory is a literary device in which characters or events in a literary, visual, or musical art form represent or symbolize ideas and concepts. An allegory is a powerful way to express ideas because it takes ideas and concepts that maybe hard for people to comprehend and put them in form that they can relate to making the concept or idea easier to understand. Animal Farm is an example of an allegory, this child-like novel is used to represent the Russian Revolution and Joseph Stalin's dictatorship over Russia. The way that I interpret Animal Farm is that the farm itself represents Russia and the rebellion the held against Mr. Jones represents the Russian Revolution. After the revolution Napoleon eventually takes over the farm completely turning the farm into a dictatorship, similarly in Russia, Joseph Stalin at first acts as if he is doing things for the benefit of the revolution completely takes over Russia and becomes a dictator. By putting these events in the for of a child's novel there are a wider range of people that are exposed to this information and it is presented in a way that many people can understand.

Squealer's Reasoning. To Agree or Disagree?

Honestly, I completely disagree with Squealer's reasoning for Napoleon's actions. For one, I personally believe that everyone should be able to make their own decisions and if they make the wrong decisions they should be able to take responsibility for that. Furthermore, the Sunday meetings and debates were set in place for a reason. Their purpose was so that all the animals would be able to express their ideas and opinions on certain subjects to the whole farm and collectively they would agree on the course of action that would be best suited for them. This would allow for all the animals to have an equal say to what is going on and the feedback and decisions of the whole farm would be able to separate ideas that could be harmful to community and which ideas would be helpful.Taking this into consideration one thoughtless action of one animal would not cause damage so immense that it would not be able to be solved my the collective minds of the farm.

I also am not convinced that Napoleon believes that all animals are equal. This is because of the way that he acts and the way that he treats the other animals once he chased Snowball off the farm. Napoleon automatically begins to change the way that the farm operates and takes away any rights that the animals may have had, such as the Sunday meetings. Looking at Napoleon's personality it is clear that he is not above manipulating others for his own benefit. For example, the dogs that he had secretly raised since they were pups serve as subjects that would be loyal to him at all times and subjects that would not dare defy him, since he is all they know. Even Napoleon's actions, actually the pigs in general, show that he believed that he was above all the other animals, like when they took all the apples and milk for themselves claiming that it was only for the benefit of the farm that they received special food. Another example is when all the other animals would be doing manual labor while the pigs sat around and did nothing but 'supervise'.

All in all I would have to say that I disagree with Squealer's reasoning behind Napoleon's actions after he had chased away Snowball.

Question of the Day - Predictions

Hello everybody! Here is the question of the day! Based on what you have read so far, do you believe that the animals will be able to reach their ultimate goal of overthrowing the humans permanently and making it so that all animals are equal? Why or why not?

What Makes A Good Leader?

Honestly, I believe that intelligence, despite being an important characteristic of a good leader, is not the only thing that defines a good leader. Over the course of history we have seen many different types of leaders. Some are cunning, intelligent, cruel, kind, and so much more. However, what separates the good and successful leaders from the bad? I believe that leaders should be able to understand the people that they guide and have the intelligence to be able to solve any problems that may arise in their community. A good leader should also be able to lead and guide their people without making their subjects feel like they are being oppressed of treated unfairly. I also believe that leaders, although fair and kind, should not be naive and easily controlled, since this leads to someone who may take advantage of the weaknesses of the leader and using them to their benefit. Finally, a good leader must be strong willed and confident, someone who is weak and hesitant, cannot possibly lead others and make others believe in them, when they cannot believe in themselves.

When choosing a leader for our Animal Farm Society Challenge we chose someone who would be able to keep our group on task. We also chose a person who would listen to everyone's opinions and guide us in the correct direction.