Animal Farm) Question 8

*Blog Entry of your choice:
What are the things that you did learn from Animal Farm? How does it apply to your life?

At first, I was very happy to read this book, because I wanted to know the story I think the reasons were that I didn’t know much about politic parts, and usually I was not interested in politic-related topics. However, this book was about Russian Revolution but in fact, can be any situation. It introduced me into the world of politics, that I had never paid attention. As I mentioned in the part of previous blog, I learned what makes a leader and how you need to use your power to make better life. This book also gave me chance to think about the world we live.
This story shows us a lot about our life. In the beginning the rebellions have common goals and ideals, but after some time it changes. This book also tells the story of the Russian Revolution of 1918. There the same development took place in the years after the initial changes.
This book had touched me in a strange way. I am afraid that this will happen once more, that some intelligent, bad people will triumph.


For the last comment about blogging itself, reading the novel and writing a journal is a hard task and sometimes I get annoyed, but I think it really helps me to understand the book better. Hopefully this will be applied to everyone. While I am doing it, I get to explore into the book, and trying to find the meaning, and it is the purpose of the assignment.

Animal Farm) Question 7

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

The story takes place on a farm in England in the first half of the 20th century. I found the memorable setting that is close to the ending part of the book, and relate to the question five and six. The setting I chose is described, when the deputation of neighboring farmers was invited to the Animal Farm and they looked around there. Then they were drinking wine in the table. The setting I picked is viewed from the animals that followed up with wonder to see the inside the house. So these animals are outside of house and looking at the inside. This setting is memorable to me because I feel warm and comfortable like the way I came to home when I imagined (like these animals see) talks of roar between the men, I feel warm and comfortable. To explain it clearly, the mood of the overall novel was strict, cold, but it was the first time I felt warm and comfortable. Maybe it is because this is close to the ending. So I feel the way of exciting and comfortable and warm because I am almost finishing the book…haha.
In addition, the major settings in this novel are windmill and the animal farm. When I see the common windmill and animal farm, they look peaceful, and friendly like my grandmother’s house. But in the novel, the moods in the setting are not really peaceful, there are strict rules that other animals must follow, and pigs are inspecting.

Animal Farm) Question 6

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

I found the passage that is significant to me in the very last sentence of the story.

“There was the same hearty cheering as before, and the mugs were emptied to the dregs. But as the animals outside gazed at the scene, it seemed to them that some strange thing was happening. What was it that had altered in the faces of the pigs? …Some of them had five chins, some had four, some had three……Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man again: but already it was impossible to say which was which.”

This is the passage that mostly shows the purpose of writing this book. The purpose of writing, he tried to show our human nature by putting animals as the characters instead of human. In fact, after I read this quote, I could get the purpose of writing of the book. He directly gave us clue pigs and human looked similar. Animals described in the book displayed human ourselves and vice versa. Also in this passage, these pigs or humans are laughing and cheering, and shouting. The figures illustrated here are violent, but kind of friendly.
This passage is visual. I can imagine the whole scene obviously in my brain.

The one thing I don’t understand in this quote is when the author talks about number of chins. What does that mean…? Or is it just description of facial expression?

Animal Farm) Question 5

What is the mood of this novel? Do you find this novel saddens you in anyway? Why?

The story of Animal Farm is told over the point of view of the common animals. From the most part, the mood of the novel is described in a way of objective, stating outer facts and rarely expressing emotions. There are emotions of anger, enthusiasm, and so on. I could easily find these emotions when I was reading. There is no freedom at all. The animals had to work even though they don’t like it. The overall mood is being one tension. I feel tight the way when I wore small clothes. On the other hand, though this novel is not containing many emotions, I found myself it saddens me anyway. It is when Boxer died. He was the favorite character in this story. He died because of betrayed pigs. Boxer is old but he is patient and clever. The pigs just sent him to the glue factory to be slaughtered. His famous saying, “I will work harder,” and “Napoleon is always right,” made me to think he is clever and patient.
He tried to work harder and believe in Napoleon until right before he died.

The description of the humanity portrayed throughout the book is severely evil. I am sad because the way our society is like this. The animals had full of hope toward their future at the beginning; it’s shown when they were singing ‘Beasts of England.’ Nevertheless, they lost hope as Napoleon conquers the Animal Farm. I feel I am lucky because I live in the rule of democracy, not communist. I am free to go to another country, free to study, free to do things. How lucky am I!

Animal Farm) Question 4

What is the climax of this novel? What happens? How do the events of this novel makes you feel?

I don’t feel I found an accurate climax of the story, but I guess climax begins after Snowball is kicked out from the Animal Farm and some animals are executed because Napoleon made them to confess at the Battle of the Cowshed. The climax is in chapter 8, happens when the battle with Frederick taken place in the Animal Farm. At this moment, the opponent destroyed the windmill and animals were angry. So the animals attacked the opponent almost crazily. The nine dogs of Napoleon barked to the humans and these human ran away. Animals had won the victory. The Squealer said they are going to rebuild the windmill, he thought a matter of winning the fight was important than the windmill was damaged (I think it is because he didn’t work to build the windmill, he just gave orders. So he didn’t know how hard the animals worked to build the windmill for last year). However, the animals were exhausted and injured; some of them were died in the fighting. They were disappointed when they saw that windmill was destroyed. What I noticed in the climax is that the destruction of windmill represents the destruction of faith in this society. The whole story of novel doesn’t describe detail things, but I think the next chapter after the climax, the animal seemed to be reluctant to work for the farm and they ran a lack of food, money to rebuild the windmill. So I could see the animals lost the faith to finish the achievement.

Animal Farm) Question 3

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 characters in the novel are Napoleon, Snowball, Boxer, and Squealer. I will describe each character by their role in the novel and what do they represent in our society each character’s special features and whether I like them or not.

Napoleon: He is a direct model of Joseph Stalin, the Soviet dictator. He uses military force, which is his attack dogs, to threat other animals. He seems to not show any interest in the strength of Animal Farm itself, only in the strength of his power over it. The only thing he does with enthusiasm is training dogs. He doesn’t teach them for their own good or for everyone, but rather for his own good. Also I dislike Napoleon based on these qualities.

Snowball: The pig who challenges Napoleon for control of power of Animal Farm. As a character of Leon Trotsky, Snowball is clever, ambitious, and less cunning than Napoleon. When his zealous projects such as building the windmill was informed, he seems to get the allegiance of the other animals. However, this too much idealistic imagination leads him to the corruption of position where Napoleon will be standing later on the story. If I would have chance to choose a leader between Napoleon and Snowball, I would rather choose Snowball.

Boxer: He is a huge horse and described the most sympathetically in the novel. He has a strong faith to Napoleon. When he pitifully dies, it was a result of pigs’ betrayal. I felt so sad when he died at a glue factory, because I thought he was the only one who can really work for the Animal Farm. I hardly found Boxer as a favorite character (because the characters were described very outward features). I think this was the symbolism how this kind of class in society lives; the author uses Boxer to represent working classes.

Squealer: A very clever pig, who always announces to the other animals everything Napoleon wants him to tell. I don’t like Squealer because he always obeys to Napoleon’s order, I want to know if he really obeys his leader inside of him or if he is just pretending to be obey.

Animal Farm) Question 2

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"?

Anyone who read Animal Farm certainly gets to know that the story is satirized from Russian Revolution. In the nowadays, North Korea has a connection with this situation based on the basic elements that made up this novel. From now on, let me discover some similarities for both government systems: Soviet Union and North Korea. First of all, both countries have a communist government system. The dictator Kim Jung-Il has a power to control the country. Also in the novel, Napoleon, who can symbolize as Stalin, controls the entire Animal Farm. On the other hand, they have in common when they take crops that people had gained by working terribly hard. In North Korea, thousands of people are dying of hunger even right now. But the government doesn’t seem to care about it at all. This situation makes me to think of a passage that I had read from book (Kareel, Jamison. Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul. FL: HCI Teens, 1997. p.1): ‘All kinds of relationships are like sand in your hand. If you hold loosely, the sand remains where it is. But if you close your hand and squeeze tightly, you will loose some of sand. A relationship is like that.’ This quote exactly applies to current events in the world, actually applies to anytime and anywhere in the world. According to this passage, the author of Animal Farm wanted to give the message the readers about power. If you hold too tightly your power, you will loose it, and eventually it can cause to bring corruption. Also North Korea was famous in the recent time, for it the issues of nuclear weapon whether to use it or not. It had made other countries nervous and they threatened by nuclear weapon. It is like Napoleon whom tries to threaten the other animals by his military force. I think the novel shed light on the current situations to be resolved. As I mentioned, it gives message how to use power.

Animal Farm) Question 1

What is the major theme of this novel? Why is this theme important to a teenager living in 2007?

Animal Farm is a fairy story to give critique of the history of Russian Revolution. The author retold the story describing the rise of the power of the dictator Joseph Stalin by using many symbolisms. The theme of this novel is ‘Once you have a power, you should use it in an appropriate way.’ It means that you need to control self greed. Since pigs had natural intelligence, they didn’t work but conducted and controlled the other animals what they need to do for farm. They were smart among the entire animals in the Animal Farm, especially Snowball and Napoleon. The book is clearly written whether a focus of power in one person is healthy for a society. It also encourages the reader to dig in whether rebellion is going to be turning into a way of dictatorship and whether this particular power in society is only part of human nature. This is displayed in the action of the pigs, through the way how they drive their own power. As a teenager living in 2007, this novel gives me a sense of what is really important beyond power, and about the leadership. I think a true leader is the person who doesn’t control people, but listens to them and trying solve any conflicts to lead to improve our life. Therefore, George Orwell is trying to criticize the Stalin’s communist government and showed that he was the boss, not the leader, who didn’t listen to the others, only took the profits.

Lord of the Flies) Question 8

Blog Entry of Your Choice.

For the last blog entry which I get to choose my own, I overviewed meaning of the whole novel.

When I finished the book, I didn’t understand well about the story. (Yet, I am still confused!) Just reading this kind of novel was a big challenge to me.

I had hard time to finding the meaning of the story and it didn’t come to me at once. I just thought this book is a story about terrible boys with the terrible things happening when I read beginning part. But as I went through writing the previous entries, my thoughts and ideas about human nature began to improve. I had to think to combine the ideas about the theme, what is happening in the world at the same time, how the author described characters upon symbolism, events of the story, mood, and settings described in the novel.
The ending part wasn’t clear to me. When the airplane had arrived and the officer, he discovered the boys, and he didn’t continue the story. I wonder what would happen to those boys. Are they going to live like before when they stayed in the island?
Also at the end of the story, Jack cries for the first time and it makes me feel forgiving…
Although the entire novel is described cruelly, it makes me think beyond our basic human nature. It is full of greed and desires in the world, but we have hopes for everyday.

I suppose by showing the chaotic world in the boys, the author is also giving us hope.

Lord of the Flies) Question 7

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

There are two settings I found in the novel Lord of the Flies, one for beautiful setting and one for disturbing setting.

The first setting I found is described at the beginning of the story, when right after the airplane was crashed; Ralph and Piggy met and which described when Ralph reached out of jungle. He discovered the place where there was shore fledged with palm trees, with grasses, coconuts, and the shimmering water upon the ocean. There were coral reef and the sea color was dark blue. He was admired by the beauty of this island. The setting described in here is adorable. Since it is the beginning of the story, the author had illustrated the setting that is not yet destroyed to show pure human nature itself. Personally, I love the picture of sunsets so it is one of the reasons I chose this setting.

The second setting I found to be disturbing is described in the part of the climax.
When Jack and Ralph had conflict between them, their emotions rose to a high tension too.
“The twins lay hidden behind the tribe and the anonymous devil’s faces swarmed across the neck. Ralph turned and ran. A great noise as of sea gulls rose behind him……Then he was crashing through foliage and small boughs and was hidden by the forest.”
The setting narrated here is related to the actions of the main characters. The sea gulls crying indicate the chaos between children’s world. At this part, they had loose the sense of humanism already as shown in the setting.

Lord of the Flies) Question 6

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

『“What are you doing out here all alone? Aren’t you afraid of me?” Simon shook. “There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast.”
Simon’s mouth labored, brought forth audible words.
“Pig’s head on a stick”
“Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!” said the head. For a moment or two the forest and all the other dimly appreciated places echoed with the parody of laughter. “You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?”』(Chapter 8: Gift for the darkness, page 143)

I chose this passage from the novel that is significant to me. This passage is the conversation of Simon and the Lord of the Flies. Lord of the Flies is mentioned here for the first time. Simon is the thinker and finally Lord of the Flies appeared in him. I was curious about the title and how is it going to be related to the story. Lord of the Flies was part of him. That means the Lord of the Flies had always existed in him. He also says he is the Beast. I think the Beast is just a figure of what we are afraid of. The Lord of the Flies, Simon’s brain, was controlling this child. Simon dies after he went back to the shelter. His death is related to what Lord of the Flies said. Simon didn’t win over it. He didn’t win over his self-confidence. He knew facts before than the others but didn’t know how to express his thoughts. The reason I chose this passage is I am a bit like Simon. Sometimes I think too fast so I know how am I going to react. Actually, I may have known the answer and I had right answer, but I didn’t express it so it’s same as don’t knowing it. Maybe my head was the Lord of the Flies, that controlled all over itself.

Lord of the Flies) Question 5

What is the mood of this novel? Do you find this novel saddens you in anyway? Why?

The overall mood of the novel is negative. The author described moods of this novel as dark, eager, angry, uncomfortable, anxious, and cold. Those moods came from the setting, actions of the boys.
Also I find this novel makes me sad, anyway. This novel makes me sad because I could recognize our world. This is not a perfect world, like the gardens of Eden, in the bible. The world we living today is fallen world. Everyday, every time, in the world, there are numberless people die and numberless children born. The society of the boys described in the book is the world we live. We live in a world of suffering. In the novel, Simon and Piggy takes the suffering. Also Ralph takes the suffering although he didn’t get killed, he was anxious about being chief, and worried that what would Jack do to him. Everybody takes the suffering in the novel, and also in the world. The size (?) of suffering varies on each person, but everyone takes it. The suffering I am talking about is like a pain. For example, a child wants to be a best piano player in the world. It takes much pain as much as her dream is big. She may feel tired sometimes. But without taking the suffering, she will be give up and fail. As I mentioned before, human has good and evil side, both sides has to be exist. It applies same for a child who wants to be a best piano player in the world. There must be pain to be successful, and vice versa. To explain simply, I will use math, in the ratios-good : evil= result : pain

Lord of the Flies) Question 4

What is the climax of this novel? What happens? How do the events of this novel makes you feel?

I learned that climax is the point of highest interest, highest emotion, the most action, and the point at which the main character makes the most important decision or realization.. Actually, I am not sure exactly where the climax begins in this story, but I think when one of the littlun in Jack’s group steals Piggy’s glasses, and that was the special process that led to the climax part. As the story warmed up throughout the climax, it became wild and characters became wilder than the beginning like the true nature inside human has revealed finally. Anyway, after Piggy lost his glasses, he couldn’t see anything without his glasses. So Ralph, Piggy, and Sam and Eric decided to go to Jack, not only for finding glasses, but also about the fire. They went off to the Jack’s groups. Then Ralph and Jack come to a crash here, and this is the part of climax, when they both argue about the fire and Piggy’s specs. Ralph’s temper got into high pitch because Jack didn’t listen to him. Finally they got into a fight. While they were struggling and hitting each other, Piggy did unexpected thing. He held up the conch and started to say, “I got to say, I got the conch! Who is better to have rules and agree; or to hunt and kill?” the way he acts like an adult. Suddenly, Roger held up the giant sized rock and threw it to Piggy. Piggy died without even knowing it. Then Ralph‘s tension tied and he exploded. But Jack doesn’t feel sorry at all, he acts crueler to Ralph. Jack orders his tribes to take Sam and Eric into his group and Ralph ran away. These events are awful; I feel terrible about the boys. I don’t understand why they are killing each other. They need to help each other in this kind of situation.

Lord of the Flies) Question 3

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 characters in Lord of the Flies have different kinds of personalities and each of them is used to symbolize individual’s role in the society. The main characters are Ralph, Piggy, Jack, Simon, Roger, Sam, and Eric. They are divided into two groups: Ralph, Piggy, Simon, and Sam and Eric vs. Jack and Roger.

I like Ralph’s group than Jack’s, because he really cares about being rescue that they use fire on the mountain. Also they lead the group and set up rules to be followed by other boys. Piggy is the follower of Ralph who tries to work out problems formed among the boys. Simon, whom I most like, is thinker of the group. He is very good but he is killed afterward by all of the other boys who were caught up in a savage dance.

However, I don’t like Jack and Roger's group. They are just interested in hunting, killing the others, and they don't care about being rescue. Jack seems to be always in emotion of anger and savagery. He was the leader of his choir group at first, but later on, he overtook Ralph’s authority. Roger, who has no mercy, killed Piggy with the tremendous rock by smashing it! And I think Sam and Eric are neutral, not on the either side of Ralph, or Jack. They are twins doing everything together. They were on the Ralph’s side but eventually, they were tied up by Jack and Roger’s order.

Each group of boys reveals the universal human experience. Ralph’s group reveal democracy system and Jack’s group reveal anarchy.

Lord of the Flies) Question 2

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"?

Lord of the Flies was written around in 1954, which was the time period of World War II. He may have influenced by the wars happening in the world at that time. He put his own views and thoughts into the novel by using symbolisms. He conducted main characters into an extreme situation and described our human nature. As shown in the novel, the conflicts have among the boys made me think about the Iraq War happening in the world right now. I don’t know much about it so I researched a little bit of information.
Iraq war is the result of conflicts of both informal and formal between the Iraq military and union of multinational forces which began with the invasion of 2003. The United States and the United Kingdom were the two major components of the occupation that invaded Saddam Hussein's government.
For some people say that Iraq war is just an energy war. Potentially, Iraq has lots of oil energy, and the geographic feature of this country is profitable. It is located in Middle East, bordering the Persian Gulf, between Iran and Kuwait. Especially Iraq holds about 20 percent of total oil production in the world which is considerable portion.
In other words, it is the war of fighting with the greed. But the result in greed toward profit doesn’t only show corruption of human civilization, it is also like the catharsis of healthful will to present our human greed. To clarify, the greed that boys have toward authority in the novel is related to the result of the war beyond human’s greed. So I would say the novel don't shed any light on the current situation, which is "fixed" by illustrating the human nature itself.

Lord of the Flies) Question 1

What is the major theme of this novel? Why is this theme important to a teenager living in 2007?


William Golding, the author of the Lord of the Flies, has presented several themes to make us to think about in the novel. The major theme in this novel is that everyone makes up the society. Without one of the elements, especially rules, we will loose the sense of duty, value, and what is right or wrong. We will loose humanity like the boys in the story, if we loose these elements. This theme has brought a major significance to a teenager living in 2007, who needs to understand the basic terms of humanity. While I was reading this novel, I found out the new sense of humanism. I had read the books that are about adventures, life, school, or love, etc. I had read the books that are just fun to read and have simple subjects, before I grabbed this book. However, when I started reading this book, I was kind of shocked and confused with the actions of the characters. I wasn’t expecting there would be killing people each other especially the main characters were children (even though it was all about symbolism). This book had brought me a new sight and ideas of human nature. Every human being has both evil and good side. I always thought good books have to show good things. On the other hand, the author is trying to teach us about the negative side of the human. I also wonder why he put children as main characters, why not adults. Because Children don’t have an abstract brain like the grown-ups do, while they are not fully grown. So I guess he had tried to reveal pure sense of human nature like in the children’s world.