Robby

Robby

I just bought my Animal Farm book today with the picture of the handsome pig on the front. I have an old copy in the garage which I read about 40 years ago but I couldn't locate it so I bought a new one.

Robby

Robby

..."it was a barbed parable of the 1917 Russian Revolution and its aftermath...with a moral that the new regime, Stalin's, is just as tyrannical as the Tsarist precursor. The Bolshevik Revolution, like the French Revolution of 1789 fell victim to a Naploleanic dictator"

"The plot of Animal Farm was not especially original. Kipling had written a story in the 1890's about a 'yellow horse' who tried to rouse Vermont farm animals against 'the Oppressor' man, and as recently as 1941 an excellent, funny children's book (Freddy and the Ignoramus by Walter Brooks) had recounted a tale of the 'First Animal Republic.' But Orwell's handling of his material was entirely original..."

Robby

Robby

...I would prefer the book to be published pseudonymously. I have no reputation that is lost by doing this and if the book has any kind of success I can always use this pseudonym again.' But Orwell's reasons for taking the name Orwell are much more complicated than those writers usually have when adopting a pen-name. In effect it meant that Eric Blair would somehow have to shed his old identity and take on a new. This is exactly what he tried to do: he tried to change himself from Eric Blair, old Etonian an English colonial policemen,into George Orwell, classless antiauthoritarian

Robby

Robby

Robby

Robby

Robby

Maryal:  From past discussions  with you and knowing how much you enjoy the grog,  I am surprised that the 1st paragraph of chapter one is not your favorite.  chuckle  I liked the sentence that describes this pig as growing rather stout.  He's had "over 400 children and that is the natural life of a pig," he says.

Isn't it comforting to have  kind, passive souls such as JP and Ella in this  entire  menagerie of beasts?

Robby

Robby

Robby

"...made his way up to bed, where Mrs. Jones was already snoring.

Robby

Robby

Whether we feel that way or not, makes one to think.

Robby

š...Muriel›

Robby

I grant you, I am aged, and remember comments made back in the twenties. In those days, many people discussed the theories of Marx, saw the benefits of "from each according to his ability; to each according to his need" before the terrors of Stalin were made public. My uncle used to stand on a street corner in New York City spouting the "party line" and passing out copies of the "Daily Worker."

Robby

Robby

Robby

Our Nation is patiently waiting for the struggle for power to see who will rule this great Nation of ours. I find the Animal Farm reading at this time very moving and (we are reading it at this particulary time) somthing special as it was decided to read this book long before what is actually happening in this Nation of ours.

I knew this book could be read on line thru the clickable but wanted to hold the book, carry it with me as I go about my daily life and am so glad I did so.

Ginger

reading The Animal Farm and the way the animals treated Napoleon and the subsequent perverting of the pure motives of the original rebellion reminds me that man always destroys, because of greed and becoming power mad.

I agree with you Carolyn and the changing of the wording in the so called comandments sounds so familar perticulary at this time in this country. Ginger

(We recognize that each of you will read the book at your own pace. We ask that you not refer to content beyond the pages of chapter one out of respect for those who have not yet read them.)

Robby

Robby

Robby

1881–1970, Russian revolutionary. A lawyer, he was elected to the fourth duma in 1912 as a representative of the moderate Labor party. He joined the Socialist Revolutionary party after the February Revolution of 1917 that overthrew the czarist government and became minister of justice, then war minister in the provisional government of Prince Lvov. He succeeded (July, 1917) Lvov as premier. Kerensky’s insistence on remaining in World War I, his failure to deal with urgent economic problems (particularly land distribution), and his moderation enabled the Bolsheviks to overthrow his government later in 1917."

"Kerensky went away to the University in Saint Petersburg in 1899. The university was full of the normal types that you meet in universities, who are mostly concerned with radical politics, the kind who are the first to get themselves killed in revolutions. The few who manage to survive have their ideals ripped away.

Most of the students of that time were strongly anti-absolutist, they opposed the monarchy, other political parties had not yet developed because of a lack of self-determination among the people (ie, they couldn't vote, so why have parties?) but they were strongly in favor of a constitution.

Some of the students tended toward the radical Marxist view, where the industrial workers should control things, instead of the wealthy aristocracy. Most students did not buy into this philosophy though, either because they felt that the Marxist view was inherently materialistic (which it was) or because it ignored the fact of Russian peasants, who do not live in an industrial society.

Joan P:  You're right!  What does that mean?  Does it only mean that as drunken Farmer Jones was awakened by the din he assumed it was a fox creating such a stir?

The fact that the cat was suspected of voting early, often, and in self-contradiction is a stumper. Obviously the cat represents a constituency that looks out strictly for itself--but may change its assessment at any moment

What I have most wanted to do throughout the past ten years is to make political writing into an art. My starting point is always a feeling of partisanship, a sense of injustice. When I sit down to write a book, I do not say to myself, "I am going to produce a work of art." I write it because there is some lie that I want to expose, some fact to which I want to draw attention, and my initial concern is to get a hearing. But I could not do the work of writing a book, or even a long magazine article, if it were not also an esthetic experience... So long as I remain alive and well I shall continue to feel strongly about prose style, to love the surface of the earth, and to take pleasure in solid objects and scraps of useless information.

...The problem of language is subtler and would take too long to discuss. I will only say that of late years I have tried to write less picturesquely and more exactly. In any case I find that by the time you have perfected any style of writing, you have always outgrown it. Animal Farm was the first book in which I tried, with full consciousness of what I was doing, to fuse political purpose and artistic purpose into one whole.

š ...jane›

Robby

In thinking about the written word for a revolution, apparently it is important/effective, since it seems that the printing presses/newspapers are always among the first things seized by whichever party is trying to put down the revolution. In the cities it may now be also the radio/tv stations...any means to get word to many people. I recall airplanes dropping fliers to people also in countries where there is war, etc. In today's world, I think of countries which are trying to censor/manage the internet within their borders.

š ...jane›

"Some hams hanging in the kitchen were taken out for burial..."

Is that a clue as to who buried old Major? I think so.

š ...jane›

What young are saying about 1984,

TODAY

Kristi, a highschool student, December 7, 2000, eye opener The book was very interesting. It kept my attention throught the whole book. It gives you a good idea of how the holascost and other devestating events could have turned out. 1984 really opened my eyes on what could happen when power gets out of control. I think its not only a good warning but it makes you think how lucky we are to have freedom.

a 15 year old from Florida, December 2, 2000, kool book! This book is a pretty good depiction of what could happen in the future. It's kinda boring at first but I think it gets better! Also recommended: Brave New World- Alduous Huxley Animal Farm- George Orwell

December 2, 2000, Yummm.....doughnuts this book tastes like doughnuts

A reviewer (sagaciousseeker@aol.com), 12 year old student, loc: NYC, November 27, 2000, . . . . . . . Undoubtly, this is very good. If you are willing to see behind the obvious, behind the first layer of satire, you can begin to doubt reality. This is a treatise on Reality and Government. A few reviewers believe that this is all about communism, but you must see, that any system of government, or any organization has the potential to become The Party. Any utopia is possibly a Dystopia. And in the end, should such a thing occur, we will find a point of no return, and find ourselves too late to prevent the great darkness.

Also recommended: Animal Farm(If you want to study political science for your degree or something, and try to TAKE OVER THE WORLD)

heather (heathermnm@hotmail.com), a senior in high school, October 5, 2000, awsome book! EVERYONE should read it!! .. thanx to jonathan for introducing me to it

"The pigs were generally recognized as being the cleverist of the animals." "Clever" is not synoymous with "intelligent or wise". To use a current term, it is similar to "street smarts." How to finagle what you want out of others. How to con others without their realizing what you are doing to them.

Robby

Robby

"The song adopted today, "Unbreakable Union," with its slow and heavy tune, was ordered up by Stalin and adopted in 1944. The music was written by Alexander Alexandrov. The words were changed after Stalin's death, and again under Leonid Brezhnev.

New words are yet to be written, although previous attempts to write lyrics for the anthem chosen by former president Boris Yeltsin were frustrated by conflicting opinions about the message."

" Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (previous anthem): Until the late 1940s, the Soviet Union adopted the anthem "The Internationale", along with several other communist nations at one point or another. The anthem, written by a Frenchman in the late 19th century, is a worker's hymn, and its lyrics are very much socialist-oriented."

In July of 1919, I stepped on German soil again and hurried home, just in time to pass a few more weeks with my father, who died on September 3d. The old warrior held steadfast to his faith in the Fatherland to the last. But to his dying hour he was filled with regret because his government would not let him take an active part in the Great War.

On January 3, 1920, all my men returned--that is, all save one. Their clothes were faded from the tropical sun and corroded by the sea water, but they returned without a stain upon either their honour or their loyalty.

The only gap in our ranks after those long adventures was the excellent Dr. Pietsch, our ship surgeon. The news of Germany's collapse reached the remote part of Chile where he was living. When he heard it, he fell dead of heart failure.

Returned to my beloved Fatherland, I found so many things changed and different from what I had hoped...Only then did I realize how much I loved my country, but I also realized with sorrow and regret how much more I should have done when I find my country lying low.

To the youth of American I would like to send a message: Europe is one continent attached to still another even greater land mass. That other is the continent of Asia, filled with many strange races, all speaking different languages. Even Europe itself is split up into many nations speaking more than thirty different tongues. This I believe is largely responsible for the constant wars that are the curse of Europe. As an old sailor who has sailed before the mast around this world many times, I want to tell you Americans how lucky you are to live in a great country occupying a large part of this continent, with the wide Atlantic for a barrier on one side and the Pacific on the other. Yours is a great inheritance. You should be proud of it. You should make yourselves worthy of it.

As a sailor who has sailed under many flags and whose friends and pals are the citizens of many countries and many climes, it is my dream that one day we shall all speak a similar language and have so many common interests that terrible wars will no longer occur. But keep your bodies fit, and if your country needs you, just remember the motto of the sea:"Don't jump overboard! Stay with the ship!"

To all my countrymen, wherever they may be, I would like to say: Look up to the bright sun and not into mouse holes where it is dark...Even when the Seeadler met her fate, from stem to stern went up the cry, taken from an old refrain, "The German oak still stands." AUF WIEDERSEHEN!

Robby

š ...jane›

Robby

Robby

Robby: Thanks for The Prince .

š ...jane›

1. Whatever goes upon two legs - enemy

2. Whatever goes on four legs...friend.

Robby

They apparently hadn't participated in the Discussion Group, "Lies My Teacher Told Me."

Robby

Yes, watch those seemingly sleeping cats! Talk about the marginal comrades, the rabbits and the rats! I'd watch those cats too! And watch that Moses... the list is growing! Where'd the milk go? Surely the cat didn't drink up the five pails? Do we have to watch Napoleon too?

Have we decided who Orwell is portraying as Napoleon? Or is it too early? Snowball sounds more like Trotsky, with all his planning and implementation. Can't figure out Squealer yet either...except I don't like him much already!

Robby

"The raven is one of those birds that has a tremendous amount of lore and mythology surrounding it, and it is often contradictory. It is a bird of birth and death, and it is a bird of mysticism and magic.

The raven has a long history of being an omen. During the Middle Ages the croak of the raven was believed to foretell a death or the outcome of a battle.

The raven has a wealth of myth and lore surrounding it. In many ways it is comparable to the coyote tales of the plains Indians, the Bushmen tales of the mantis and other societies in which an animal plays both a significant and yet confusing role. The coyote was both trickster and wise being - fool and wise one. This was true of the mantis in the tales of the Kalahari Bushmen.

In the Pacific Northwest, the raven has this same aura about her. In the Pacific Northwest, raven brought forth life and order. Raven stole the sunlight from one who keep the world in darkness. Nothing could exist without raven. Raven is honored in art and on totem poles, reflecting the tales and mysticism that have developed around it.

With raven, human and animal spirits intermingle and become as one. This is reflected in its deep, rich shiny black. In blackness, everything mingles until drawn comes forth, out into the light. Because of this, raven can help you shapeshift your life or your being. Raven has the knowledge of how to become other animals and how to speak their languages.

Ravens are playful, and they are excellent tool users. They will use stones and anything else that is available to help them crack nuts and such. They are birds not intimidated by others, and they are very fast and wary. Because of this, they are not easy prey for other animals or birds. This implies the ability to teach you how to stir the magic of life without fear. They are also known for their amorous behavior, reflecting the strong creative life force to which they have access.

This creative life force can be used to work the magic of spiritual laws upon the physical plane. It can be used to go into the void and stir the energies to manifest that which you most need. All this and more is what raven teaches. If raven has come into your life, expect magic.

Raven speaks of the opportunity to become the magician and/or enchantress of your life. Each of us has a magician within, and it is Raven which can show us how to bring that part of us out of the dark into the light. Raven speaks of messages from the spirit realm that can shapeshift your life dramatically. Raven teaches how to take that which is unformed and give it the form you desire.

The guiding hand of Raven is sometimes subtle and discreet. We're not always aware of it at first, but at some point in the future when time and circumstance are right, the awareness will come to us, the lesson will then be apparent. she was trying to show me!"

Here is the heavy responsibility, and the dangers, in raven medicine. As with all things, these powers can be used for dark purposes. It enables the carrier to manipulate and coerce others into doing their will to the detriment of the other.

This medicine can be used for selfish and self-serving purposes for the ego and greed of the carrier.

All revolutions seem to start off with idealism. Every election always seems to use the phrase: "time for a change." And so for a while the animals had their heads bent down at the work they were doing believing that what they were doing was making a difference. "Hope springs eternal."

Robby

Robby

š ...jane›

š ...jane›

Robby

š ...jane›

š ...jane›

And there's the problem, Benjamin...you're always just complaining and waiting for somebody else to give you something...and you want it always to be Top Class. I suppose you want to go into the barn as a Triple Crown Winner. It's not going to happen, Benjamin, because you'd expect somebody to give that to you too. You have to work with what's available and put some effort into it, if you're going to get anything of value.

Muriel

Makes me wonder. Do the rest of us?

Robby

Did ALL the animals?

Robby

Robby

I see the animal "society" eroding from the concepts that don't work...the fallacy of "equality" and the things outlined in Joan's second paragraph above.

Robby

Robby

Robby

"Orwell called this book 'a fairy story'. It is too many other things to be so handily classified. It is also a political tract, a satire on human folly, a loud hee-haw at all who yearn for Utopia, an allegorical lesson, and a pretty good fable in the Aesop tradition....

The point about fairy stories is that they are written NOT merely without a moral, but without a morality. They take place in a world beyond good and evil, where people (or animals) suffer or prosper for reasons unconnected with ethical merit -for being ugly or beautiful...or for even more unsatisfactory reasons...

It is impossible to attach a moral to any familiar sense to Animal Farm, where wickedness ends in triumph and virtue is utterly crushed. There is perhaps a moral for farmers: don't take to drink and let your animals get out of hand; but even so the villains will be comforted to find that everything comes out all right for them in the end. (???)

For the downtrodden animals there is nothing but misery, cruelty, and injustice; and in place of a moral there is only the tragic chorus of the donkey Benjamin, who held that 'life would go on as it had always gone on - that is, badly.' "

Robby

"Yes. I was raised on a farm during World War II and we had pigs for hams and bacon, and if provoked, they would bite. (We used to ride ours when he got large enough, but we were respectful of him, and when he tired of carrying us, we patted him and fed him treats and left him alone.)"

Robby

Today is your next masterpiece, waiting to be created. It is the culmination of all you have ever been, of your knowledge, your experience, your skills and your resources. It all comes together today, right now. It is yours to use in the creation of a truly unique and valuable masterpiece.

Paint the masterpiece of today with wide and brilliant strokes. Make every moment count. Treat this day as the priceless opportunity that it is, so that when tomorrow comes, you can look back with satisfaction as you continue to look forward with eager anticipation. You've spent your life preparing for today. Now has come your chance to live it. You're better than you've ever been. Though the challenges you face are formidable, so too are the opportunities to make a real and lasting positive difference.

You can truly see and understand that life is beautiful even in the difficult moments. Today is indeed your next masterpiece, taking shape even now. Make it better than you can imagine.

"...as we think through our day by day contribution to society and our own lives..."

"Subversive topical satire in tsarist and Soviet Russia is often called "Aesopism"; all comic strips that project a message (such as the Charles Schulz creation "Peanuts" and Walt Kelly's "Pogo") have affinities with Aesop's method."

Robby

"Pigeons: The pigeons symbolize Soviet propaganda, not to Russia, but to other countries, like Germany, England, France, and even the United States. Russia had created an iron curtain even before WWII. The Communist government raved about its achievements and its advanced technology, but it never allowed experts or scientists from outside the country to check on its validity. Orwell mentions the fact that the other farmers became suspicious and worried when their animals began to sing Beasts of England. Many Western governments have gone through a similar problem with their people in this century. There was a huge "Red Scare" in the United States in the 20's. In the 1950's in the United States, Joseph McCarthy was a legislative member of the government from Wisconsin. He accused hundreds of people of supporting the Communist regime, from famous actors in Hollywood to middle-class common people. The fear of communism became a phobia in America and anyone speaking out against the government was a suspect."

"Squealer: Squealer is an intriguing character in Orwell's Animal Farm. He's first described as a manipulator and persuader. Orwell narrates, "He could turn black into white." Many critics correlate Squealer with the Pravda, the Russian newspaper of the 1930's. Propaganda was a key to many publications, and since their was no television or radio, the newspaper was the primary source of media information. So the monopoly of the Pravda was seized by Stalin and his new Bolshevik regime.

In Animal Farm, Squealer, like the newspaper, is the link between Napoleon and other animals. When Squealer masks an evil intention of the pigs, the intentions of the communists can be carried out with little resistance and without political disarray.

I would imagine that at the time of the publishing of Orwell's book, any citizen in England who was aware of what was going on in the world, knew exactly what Orwell was talking about.

Robby

In 1943 Orwell discovered when he went looking for a publisher, Stalin's Soviet Union was so popular in Britain and America that few wanted to hear or read anything critical of it! "It was as though a great deal of the West had willingly put on blinders, and this was because the Red Army that year had fought the Nazis to a standstill and forced retreat."

Orwell found that British socialists, who idealized the Russian revolution, had never been hospitable to critics of the Soviet Union. In 1943 even conservatives were pro-Soviet!

Robby

Robby

There is no judgement pronounced at good or bad behavior in fairy tales. Sometimes we cringe at evil, but good guys don't always win. The teller of the tale is more of an observer...doesn't try to pronounce a moral (although sometimes morals present themselves to the reader) A fable has a clear moral, a fable offers a view of morality...a fairy tale does not have to do that.

"...it would have to be made up by the sale of eggs, for which there was always a market in Willingdon. The hens, said Napoleon, should welcome this sacrifice as their own special contribution towards the building of the windmill.

One Sunday morning Squealer announced that the hens, who had just come in to lay again, must surrender their eggs. Napoleon had accepted, through Whymper, a contract for four hundred eggs a week. The price of these would pay for enough grain and meal to keep the farm going till summer came on and conditions were easier.

When the hens heard this, they raised a terrible outcry. They had been warned earlier that this sacrifice might be necessary, but had not believed that it would really happen. They were just getting their clutches ready for the spring sitting, and they protested that to take the eggs away now was murder. For the first time since the expulsion of Jones, there was something resembling a rebellion. Led by three young Black Minorca pullets, the hens made a determined effort to thwart Napoleon's wishes. Their method was to fly up to the rafters and there lay their eggs, which smashed to pieces on the floor. Napoleon acted swiftly and ruthlessly. He ordered the hens' rations to be stopped, and decreed that any animal giving so much as a grain of corn to a hen should be punished by death. The dogs saw to it that these orders were carried out. For five days the hens held out, then they capitulated and went back to their nesting boxes. Nine hens had died in the meantime. "

This has always been one of our favorite varieies because it was about the first one raised by our founder, Murray McMurray. IN 1917, the first time he made an exhibit at the Iowa State Fair, he won a blue ribbon on his prize Black Minorca male and it gave him a thrill he never got over. The Minorcas are the largest of the Mediterranean Class and the Blacks are perhaps the finest examples of their class. They lay large white eggs, are non-setters.

Robby

Robby

"Broodiness:

Broodiness is the desire of a hen to set, sometimes called the maternal instinct. Broody hens stay on the nest and often fight an attendant. When a broody hen it taken off the nest and dropped on the floor she ruffles up her feathers and clucks.

The broody hen stops laying and it usually takes about fifteen days for her to start laying again. If the broody hen is not 'broken up' shortly after going broody it will require a longer period to re-establish production. Broody hens can be marked with yellow bands or if the hens have been given numbered bands, a record can be made of broodiness. We do not want to breed from broody hens."

"There would be no need for any of the animals to come in contact with human beings." Already the "wall" was being constructed separating Russia from the rest of Europe.

Robby

Robby

Scapegoat, (Pronunciation: SKAYP goht) originally meant one of the two goats received by the Jewish high priest in ancient Jerusalem on the Day of Atonement. One was for Yaweh (Jehovah), the Hebrew God, and was killed as a sacrificial offering. The second was called the scapegoat. This one was for Azazel, which may have been the spirit of evil. The priest laid his hands upon the scapegoat as he confessed the people's sins. Then the priest sent the scapegoat into the wilderness. This was a symbol that the sins had been forgiven. Today, a person who has been blamed for something which is the fault of another is referred to as a scapegoat. The ritual is described in Leviticus 16.

Gary G. Porton, Scapegoat. , World Book Encyclopedia, 01-01-2000'

Robby

"You have heard then, comrades, that we pigs now sleep in the beds of the farmhouse. And why not?...We have removed the sheets from the farmhouse beds and sleep between blankets. And very comfortable beds they are too. But not more comfortable than we need."

Robby

Does Animal Farm, for example, argue that revolutions always fail, always end in betrayal? Does it show the working class as stupid, incapable of self-rule? Or is the book, as I would argue, a marvellous socialist protest against Stalinism, written by someone who can quite legitimately be described as a 'literary Trotskyist'?

Muriel T. Goat

Robby

, Dec. 30 -- President Vladimir Putin today approved new lyrics for the Russian national anthem, replacing an old paean to Lenin and communism with a hymn that celebrates a "holy country . . . protected by God."

The new text goes with the Soviet music that Putin revived this month. The words were written by Sergei Mikhalkov, the 87-year-old poet who coauthored the Soviet anthem for dictator Joseph Stalin during World War II.

Mikhalkov's new words were chosen over other versions submitted to a Kremlin-appointed committee, and they were approved by Putin despite last-minute questions by the Constitutional Court about whether the president could make such a decision by decree.

The revived music and new lines were played for the first time at the Kremlin today during a New Year's reception. "We are entering the new millennium with a new anthem," Putin declared. "The anthem is not simply a symbol. It is impossible to live without it. We have managed to overcome the disagreements between the past and the present."

Putin's approval of the lyrics gives Russia a complete set of national symbols for the first time since 1992, but the debate over Russia's post-Soviet identity is far from over.

The Soviet anthem paid tribute to the "party of Lenin" and "communism's triumph." The new lyrics herald "Russia, our sacred country!" and a land protected by God, but do not identify the deity with Russian Orthodoxy or any particular religion. The Soviet anthem praised an "unbreakable union of republics" -- which fell apart in 1991. The new anthem refers to an "eternal union of fraternal peoples."

Earlier this month, Putin abandoned the anthem music that his predecessor, Boris Yeltsin, had chosen after the Soviet collapse, a wordless tune by 19th-century composer Mikhail Glinka. Gripped by uncertainty in the first years of its post-Soviet statehood, Russia could not agree on words for an anthem, despite repeated attempts to capture the lyrical essence of Russian nationhood.

Putin, saying he wanted to break the impasse of symbols, proposed restoring the Soviet anthem's music, and the parliament quickly agreed. He also confirmed the Russia tricolor as the flag and the double-headed eagle, a symbol from czarist times, as the official coat of arms. The new lyrics are expected to be approved by parliament as well.

Aides said Putin was eager to have a new anthem in place before the New Year and pushed to make a decision quickly on the words rather than entertain another lengthy and possibly inconclusive selection process.

Putin's decree has the power of law, until superseded by parliament, although a Constitutional Court judge questioned last week whether something as important as the anthem could be approved by decree. Putin discussed the matter Friday with court chairman Marat Baglai, and went ahead with the decree today, noting that it would stand only until parliament acts.

Liberal critics said the Soviet anthem harked back to the days of Stalin's bloody repressions and recalled the era of Soviet totalitarianism. Poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko said in a radio interview, "Nowadays, there are about 10 major real poets in Russia. They have all refused to write lyrics for that music. And the text for the music shouldn't have been decided upon by some special working group. What was needed were high professionals -- poets and composers."

Robby

Robby

I believe there are people who do live their lives that way, too...stay with or in a relationship or in a situation that the rest of us see as far worse than when that person was alone/in former times, etc., yet the person involved continually exclaims it's "much better" than before. I'm not explaining this well...if "love is in the eyes of the beholder" than I think that reality ~or the perspective on what is reality~ can be too.

š ...jane›

Robby

There is a difference believing you are better off in a relationship because you choose to believe that for whatever survival reasons you may have, than to be suffering in a relationship and have someone else on the outside tell you that you are better off, and then believing it, isn't there?

Maybe I'm just bull-headed uh...pig-headed ..uh...stubborn...but I usually don't believe something because somebody tells me it's so. I do weigh it against my perceptions, try to see it as presented, etc. However, if the animals can't read and are not...well...intellectually endowed, maybe they do believe whatever they're told, without the questioning/pondering/thinking?? Maybe that's one of the "signs" between the readers/educated/learned...and those who aren't...the desire/need/willingness to think for onesself? Hmmm...more to ponder...

Robby

Joan Pearson "Great Books: Hard Times" 8/31/98 8:04pm

Yes, there is a distinct link to Stephen the Martyr and Stephen Blackpool...both incurring the wrath of peers and rulers alike for speaking up for that which they believed. I found much the same information that Ginny provided, but a bit more about St. Paul:

St. Stephen, Martyr

"The Sanhedrin were convulsed with hysterical rage. They hustled Stephen off to a place outside the city and stoned him to death. As he died he prayed for them, 'Lord, do not count this sin against them,' and the prayer was heard-not only by God but by Saul of Tarsus. Saul had been present at all this. He knew that he was witnessing a revolting crime. He could not bring himself to join in the stoning; but he held the coats of those who did. Afterwards, he tried to smother his conscience by furiously persecuting other Christians, but it was hard for him to kick against the goad. Not long afterwards he set out on that journey to Damascus which led him, in the end, to a martyrdom like Stephen's."

Benjamin: Old Benjamin, an elderly donkey, is one of Orwell's most elusive and intriguing characters on Animal Farm. He is described as rather unchanged since the rebellion. He still does his work the same way, never becoming too exited or too disappointed about anything that has passed. Benjamin explains, "Donkeys live a long time. None of you has ever seen a dead donkey." (he's seen it all, Farmer Jones, the present regime, and will survive to see what is to follow.)



Although there is no clear metaphoric relationship between Benjamin and Orwell's critique of communism, it makes sense that during any rebellion there or those who never totally embrace the revolution— those so cynical they no longer look to their leaders for help. Benjamin symbolizes the older generation, the critics of any new rebellion. Really this old donkey is the only animal who seems as though he couldn't care less about Napoleon and Animal Farm. It's almost as if he can see into the future, knowing that the revolt is only a temporary change, and will flop in the end.



Benjamin is the only animal who doesn't seem to have expected anything positive from the revolution. He almost seems on a whole different maturity lever compared to the other animals. He is not sucked in by Napoleon's propaganda like the others. The only time he seems to care about the others at all is when Boxer is carried off in the glue truck. It's almost as if the old donkey finally comes out of his shell, his perfectly fitted demeanor, when he tries to warn the others of Boxer's fate. And the animals do try to rescue Boxer, but it's too late. Benjamin seems to be finally confronting Napoleon and revealing his knowledge of the pigs' hypocrisy, although before he had been completely independent.



After the animals have forgotten Jones and their past lives, Benjamin still remembers everything. Orwell states, "Only old Benjamin professed to remember every detail of his long life and to know that things never had been, nor ever could be much better or much worse— hunger, hardship, and disappointment being, so he said, the unalterable law of life."

Please keep in mind Animal Farm and George Orwel 1984 as time passes. He may have had the date wrong but I intend to watch to see what happens in the USA at this time. I did enjoy Animal Farm when I read it and the posts since I was here a Long time ago have been very interesting as to how we the people think today.

Ginger

Faith, I am still patriotic to the country we knew back in the depression and world war two but am very concerned about what has been happening since, such as agnent Orange and the Gulf War with all our Gulf war people getting sick, I have lost a very special friend to the Gulf War syndrome that it seems nobody cares about not even her husband but she served this country well and has passed like our Boxer.

Ginger

Yes I liked the story because it made me appreciate the fact that I have never had to live under such tyranny but I am sad that anyone has to live that way.

I so much apprieciate all of our people who have kept this Country free from so many things.

Many have given there lives in so many ways, Death, Disabilities of body and or mind. I thank them all for our freedom.

Faith, email on its way.

Ginger

But our faerly mad wet hen is concerned...that we take it so for granted that the rest of the world will follow our shining example, that we forget there are still people in the world who are not as fortunate. As I understand it, fae, you wanted a more optimistic moral from Orwell...that 'uneducated unworldly people would not ever be easily lead by the few from the cities who came as saviors.' And Orwell cannot do that, now can he? Why not?

I wonder his mood when he published this book. He was trying to alert the English people who were so grateful to Russia, to Stalin, to Napoleon for saving them from those other oppressors, that they were overlooking the oppression of the Russian people - while observing the success, the organization of life there under Socialism, Communism. I don't think he was feeling at all optimistic...I don't think he was capable of providing you with the reassurance that you desperately seek, fae!

I believe Orwell wants you and all who read this book to be as dis-satisfied as you are right now, and wary! He is not at all optimistic about the nature of man...which is what? To believe that some men are more equal than others...

He does sound like Benjamin, doesn't he?

I really want to hear how the rest of you reacted to the 'fairy tale'. Can you think of any fairy tale that did not have a happy ending?

"...a violent quarrel was in progress. There were shoutings, bangings on the table, sharp, suspicious glances, furious denials."

Mr. Pilkington denounced Animal Farm because their animals were the hardest worked and lesst fed in the country.

False

True