Animal Farm by George Orwell

"Soon or late the day is coming, Tyrant Man shall be over thrown, And the fruitful fields of England, Shall be trod by beasts alone." (Animal Farm, page 22) I thought that Animal Farm, written by George Orwell was a fabulous "fairy story" as Orwell himself called it. It showed the dark side of politics of war in a clever allegory. It was fabulous because it got the message Orwell was trying to send to the reader in an indirect creative way that made the reader think. He also used many symbols. Orwell used different objects, people, and creatures to portray types of individuals, famous figures, and events that happened in World War II and are still happening today. He challenged the world with his revealing tale that uncovered the ugly truth of politics and war with deadly accuracy, but made it accessible to millions of people everywhere.

In Animal Farm, the animals of Manor Farm are tired of being underfed, beaten, and nearly worked to death. They then plan a revolt and succeed in overthrowing the humans of the farm. Animalism has begun. Rules are made and leaders are chosen. The pigs are the supreme leaders and the most intelligent. The politics of Animal Farm quickly become dirty as sabotage and threats get more and more common.

Animal Farm was excellent because Orwell managed to get an important message across to the reader in a creative way. The message basically explained what goes on behind the scenes of politics. The reader was let in on all the little secrets and terrible deeds the leaders did to each other while the animals were manipulated to believe one thing and then the other. He let the reader see the horrors and lies that are being told and done to nearly anyone who opposes another.

What Orwell did that was clever was also show the animals who were being led to believe something that had never happened. For example, Snowball, one of the first and main leaders of Animal Farm, created the Ten Commandments. One was, "No animal shall kill any other animal." After Snowball was overthrown, Napoleon, the rival pig, took over. Napoleon at one point in the story, held an execution where he killed many innocent animals. It had been a couple of years since the commandments had been created and hardly any of the animals could read or remember them. When one animal was heard questioning what Napoleon did, the commandment was secretly changed by Napoleon right hand man, Squealer. The law now read, "No animal shall kill any other animal without cause." The animal who had questioned the law before saw no difference and found her challenge had been irrelevant.

The symbols used to represent people, famous figures, and events were one of the key elements that made Animal Farm such a phenomenal classic. Many of the well known and major characters in the story represented some of the distinguished figures in World War II. Old Major, an old pig that first introduces the idea of Animal Farm and establishes the anthem, Beasts of England was created to represent Karl Marx who was a revolutionary socialist and political theorist. Napoleon, the pig who is a rival to Snowball and who later becomes the chief of Animal Farm was made to epitomize Joseph Stalin. Stalin was a conspicuous politician who was for communism. He was also a member of the main government of the Communist party. Snowball, the pig who had the farm's best intentions at heart and who was against Napoleon and his ideas portrayed Leon Trotsky. Trotsky was Russian political figure who supported Marxism and was against communism.

Some of the battles in the book are believed to have been symbolizing some of the more famous battles in World War II. The animals were also used to represent different types of people. Boxer, a hard working but knowingly stupid horse, represented the workers in the world. Clover, a kind mare who was practically the mother of the farm, portrayed the mothers and families. Benjamin, who was a donkey, exemplified the people who were intelligent and knew what was going on but didn't feel the need to get involved.

During the story, Snowball, the original leader, was chased out by Napoleon and his league of vicious dogs. This is quite like what happened in an episode of the popular children's show, SpongeBob. In SpongeBob there are two retired super heroes, Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy. Barnacle Boy, the sidekick is tired of being second in command. He goes to the dark side and overthrows Mermaid Man with his powerful new friends, who are quite like the dogs. This is just one example of a coupe that is similar to that found in Animal Farm.

After Snowball is overthrown, the reigns of Animal Farm are thrown into the filthy trotters of a selfish, clever, and intelligent beast, Napoleon. Napoleon has only his problems on his mind. He starts working the animals harder. He makes the farm slowly go bankrupt. He is also slowly changing the commandments and changing the past so that he makes sure that no one questions his intentions and authority. Slowly, but surely the pigs are turning into humans. What the animals of Animal Farm were thinking was freedom from their life with the humans is turning back to what it began with.

Animal Farm was at first banned from being published. Orwell found it hard to find a publisher. Why? Because of the idea his story was portraying and the way he was showing the war and politics. He was trying to get it published during World War II and during the time it became apparent that anti-Soviet literature was not popular. He mentioned the "Freedom of the Press" and challenged it talking about how he had a right to express his opinion. He succeeded.

George Orwell did a stupendous job in writing Animal Farm, because of the clever way he got his message across, his use of symbols and his determination to reveal the truth behind politics and war. I thoroughly enjoyed his book. "The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which." (Animal Farm, page 128)

The Royal Wedding

Ok, I know this is a little late, but I just have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the Royal Wedding. It was really neat to see (not to forget that the Princes were pretty awesome) Kate Middleton is gorgeous and so was her sister Pippa. I thought it was very interesting the whole title thing; how Kate would now be referred to as Catherine and how seeing as she was a commoner she would be a Duchess not a Princess. It's kind of like a modern Cinderella. Just forget the poor servant Ella. Commoner? Yes. Poor? Definently not. Cindery? No. Ella? No Catherine. She's also very modest (exept for that little see through dress at college, but hey, she was young) and a great role model. I thought the traditions were intersting too. Such as, the bride's arms could not be exposed in the Abbey and how the groom could not see the bride until she came up to him. Harry was funny when he looked back and nudged his brother and grinned. I can imagine him saying, "Ha! I can see her and she looks really good. Ha ha!" I also heard that he planned a pretty sweet after party. Did I mention that the Queen looked amazing in yellow and amazing for being in her 80's. I also liked how secret they kept the dress. "World's best kept secret!" they all raved.

One last thing--well two.

1) I watched the wedding on CNN. They had two British announcers and an American announcer, Anderson Cooper. The British announcers were having the best time ever making fun of poor Anderson Cooper whenever he got something wrong or mispronounced something. It was sad, yet funny.

2) The HATS! Oh the hats. Those were the spotlight of the wedding for me (well with the guests; the kiss was the best thing) Someday I will go to London and I will buy and wear a hat like that. I'm going to show you some hats that I thought were worthy of being shown on my blog.

This is just a collage of hats. I know for sure that the upper left corner is David Beckhams hat (they [the British announcers] were really harsh with Beckham because he didn't ever wear his top hat [how rude!] and he put his little medals on the wrong side of his chest [Oh dear! That's like putting your hand over you left heart during the Pledge of Allegiance... oh wait, you only have one heart... my bad] Poor David.) The middle of the upper row is Camilla Parker-Bowles. Her hat is pretty boring compared to what all the young hip people are wearing. Shame on her for not staying with the current styles. Now, I'm not sure but I think the middle lady on the bottom row is a good friend of William and Kate. I'm not positive but it's a possibilty. If you are a determined person who really wants to know, then go Google it and I hope you find the answer. Be sure to tell me via commenting!

The name of this woman escapes me at this moment. All I remember about her is that she had a nose job (can you tell? after they announced it, I could instantly tell and that's all I saw whenever they showed her--which was quite a bit) Her hat looked like it's going to fall off her face. I wonder what they used to make it stay. Hot Glue? Too hot. Elmer's Glue? Not Sticky enough. Ticky Tacky? It stains after about an hour. DUCT TAPE? Perfect. I'd totally use that to make sure my amazingly bizarre hat stays on my forehead--where all the cool hats are placed these days.

Here's Princess Beatrice (Prince Andrew's daughter) Isn't her hat just smashing!

I hope you've enjoyed my rather long post on the Royal Wedding.

What are your views?

I was recently thinking about the slow death of newsprint. Do you think that by say, 2025 newsprint will still be around. I have always been interested in journalism and I'm wondering if I'd ever get a job in the journalism business. What with the Internet and technology boom hardly anybody gets or reads newspapers. Why bother? When you can just go online and get news INSTANTLY. That's the most beautiful word, INSTANTLY along with UPDATED. I would probably get a job as a online journalist but I find it more exciting and cool if I'm write/edit for a real, paper, solid newspaper. Something that you can hold in your hands. Same with eBooks. I'd rather have a real paper book. What are you opinions about newsprint? Will it be extinct by 2030 or will it be slowly trying to stay alive in the shadow of the Internet?

Problems

Ok, so I was going to post my offshore drilling essay but I can't seem to copy it and I don't want to retype it. I'll work it out but for now, my opinions on offshore drilling will not be publically heard. Hang in there! and keep readin'!

Governor's Meeting

Hello Fellow Readers,
Sorry it's been a while with my posts.
I recently interviewed the Governor of Utah Gary R. Herbert. I know pretty cool. Sorry I can't include the interview I said it was only going out to people subscribed to my newspaper. I don't have pics either.

If you want the interview then you know how to get it from me. Wink wink.

I also e-mailed President Obama an essay I wrote about Offshore drilling. I am for it. That I will share with you in the next post.

Quote of the week

For the next six months the Quote of the Week will be a movie quote. You can click on the link to view that actual part of the movie. Enjoy!

Highlights of 2010

Greetings.
I know it's been a while. I've been horribly busy.
Well, here are some highlights of 2010:

2010 is dead and gone away. It was an interesting year full of hope, suprises, sadness, joy, and happiness. Many large events happened this year. Here are some of the highlights.
SOME FUN FACTS:
2010 was designated as:
The International Year of Biodiversity
The Internation Year of Youth
LARGE EVENTS:
January 12- A 7.0 magnitude earthquake hits Haiti, with a devastating blow to the nations capital, Port-au-Prince. The death toll was 230,000 (it is one of the deadliest on record) It is said that most the buildings left standing were building that were occupied/built by Americans (LDS Church buildings and US government headquarters)
January 15- The longest annual solar eclipse of the 3rd Millenium occurred.
Febuary 12-18- The 2010 Winter Olympiacs are held in Vancouver and Whistler, Canada.
Febuary 27- An 8.8 magnitude earthquake hits Chile, triggering a tsunami over the Pacific killing 497. The earthquake was one of the largest recorded in history.
April 10- The President of Poland, Lech Kaczyński along with 96 others is killed when their plane crashed in western Russia.
April 13- A 6.9 magnitude earthquake hits Qinghai, China, killing 2,000 and injuring more than 10,000.
April 14- Volcanic ash from one of multiple eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, an icecap in Iceland beings to disrupt air traffic across northern and western Europe.
April 20- The Deepwater Horizen oil platform explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, leaving eleven dead. The resulting oil spill was one of the largest in history spread for several months and caused a national debate.
June 11- July 11- The 2010 Fifa World Cup is held in South Africa and is won by Spain.
August 10- The World Health Organization declares the H1N1 influenza epidemic officially over.October 13- Thirty- three miners who were trapped 70 meters (229.65879265091863 Feet) in the San José Mine in Copiapó, Chile, were rescued after being trapped for 69 days which was a record time
October 22- The International Space Station breaks the record for the longest continuous human occupation of space, having been contiuouly inhabitated since November 2, 200. (3641 days)
December 21- The first total lunar eclipse to occur on the day of the northern winter solstice/southern summer solstice since 1638, takes place.

I hope you have all have a wonderful year. I wonder what this year will have in store for us. Just some cool things about 2011:
It was designated by the United Nations the:
International Year of Forests
International Year of Chemistry