Weixuan Wu 2/10/20 Blog

2/10/20

Weixuan Wu 

PD 5

Sophomores 2020

Aim: How is Animal Farm by George Orwell a satirical allegory?

Do Now: On a scale of 1-5 (1 being the most important), list five human rights.

I wrote… 

1. Right to life
2. Freedom of thought 
3. Freedom of speech 
4. Right of education 
5. Right of own property 

We were asked to put the rights that we listed on the board, if we disagree with one of them we put a line through it. 

Then we were asked What is human right?

• Rights that all humans should have regardless of their race, nationality and sexuality.
  - Fahad 

On the broad, one of them is “right to social security”, Ms. Fusaro then asked does everyone here have social security? 

• Social security- federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program. 

We weren’t given social security, so the right of social security is not something that everyone has. Even if everyone above 66 in the U.S have social security, that doesn’t mean people in other nations have social security. In conclusion, the right of social security is not a human right.

After she pointed this out we reevaluated the list that we putted on the broad.

Ms. Fusaro pointed out human rights means that even the worst human on the world still has this right. We were asked weather or not the worst human we can ever imagine deserves the rights that we listed.

Then we reevaluated the list of rights again, and began to argue about some of the rights on the list. 

We crossed out some of them, for example “Freedom of a Fair trial”

Finally, we began to talk about George Orwell, the author of Animal Farm. We talked about how George Orwell is flipping the world around, his writings allow the audience to see a reality they did not know existed. And with his works George Orwell was warning us against something. 

In the case of human rights, if we can’t even agree on what are the basic human rights, how can we decide what is too much? 

Then we were asked, Was there ever a time in your life when “human rights” were violated? Either you rights or of someone you know.

1. “If I was killed by someone, that’s a violation of human rights”
2. “My grandfather survived from the concentration camps during World War 2 and can be an example of a violation of human rights.”

We were then given the definition of satire, and told that George Orwell used satire in Animal farm to present a certain message. 

Satire- A literary composition that, in verse or prose, in which human folly and vice are held up to scorn, derision, or ridicule. In a satire, the writer attacks a serious issue by presenting it in a ridiculous light, or otherwise poking fun at it.

Then we were asked to search out the website The onion (example of satire)

We can see from this website that the writers employ exaggeration and ridicule to expose and criticize particular topics. People only repost and make fun of thing only when they care about it

Animal farm is also an example of an Allegory 

Allegory- Literary work in which characters, events, objects, and ideas have secondary or symbolic meanings.

In an allegory there is a hidden meaning to everything. Everything symbolizes something else. 

Peter Pan is an example of an allegory, the backstory of Peter Pan is accurately tragic and dark. 

Reflection:  

What we learned?

In today’s lesson we talked about human rights. Human rights are the right that was given to every human being. However, based on our discussion we concluded that everyone seems to have a different standard and understanding of human rights. Some of us believed that the right to have fair trials should be given to everyone, and some of us don’t believe so. Here comes a question, if we can’t even come to an agreement on human rights, how can we decide what’s moral and what’s not; what is fair and what is not? Just like how this seemingly simple question made us question our existing understandings, the works of George Orwell are known for their ability to make us question our society and the world around us. In the book that we are about to read(Animal Farm), George Orwell used satire to show the misuse of power and the breakdown of political ideology. Satire is a literary manner which blends humor with criticism for the purpose of instruction or the improvement of humanity. In addition, Animal Farm embedded allegory to teach us some kind of moral lesson.  Allegory is a figure of speech in which abstract ideas and principles are described in terms of characters, figures, and events. 

Why did we learn it?

Before we start to read Animal Farm it is important that we have an idea of what the author is trying to present to the reader. If we just start the book without any prior knowledge, we might make the same mistakes as the bookstores owner had made in 1945 by thinking Animal Farm belongs to the children section. After we understand what is an allegory, we will pay more attention to the characters and events that took place in the book. Now, we might be thinking about what those pigs represent, and we will be able to make a connection to the Russian Revolution.

How will I use what I learned?

Through this lesson, I enhanced my understanding of human rights. Now I will look at human rights with a broader perspective. Instead of considering the rights that people around me have as human rights, I will begin to consider only the rights that every human being has as human rights. With the the understanding of allegory and satire, I will have a completely different experience of reading Animal Farm as I did before. I will begin to look into the hidden meanings behind each symbol and events.