March 3rd, 2020
Paul Khoury
Ms. Peterson Pd. 3
Sophomores 2020
Aim- How can foundational knowledge of history and an author’s experiences add insight to the rationale for their works?
Do Now - Think/Pair/Share:
How would you feel if you lived in a society where you worked more than half a day for little pay; under poor working conditions?
How would you feel if that society denied or severely limited your education?
- I would feel hopeless, oppressed, and treated unjustly; not things I would enjoy feeling.
- There would be no opportunity for self betterment, social mobility, or even relaxation -- fundamental human rights.
- Peter T. facetiously said he would “certainly feel under the weather”
- Gunhee L. said that if one lived in a society like this, as long as they didn’t know of any other better life, they would remain content with this because they have no point of comparison
- Bradley V. added to this relativistic view, claiming that the worth of our pay is essentially determined by the value of the pay of others around us
- Labour Unions and child labour laws protect us against a reality like this
- Many jobs are much more dangerous than we realize, especially children
- Until about the beginning of the 20th century, very few laws existed and workplace injuries and overworking was commonplace
- Women and those in certain professions were also especially prone to workplace victimization pre-union era
Where do you believe a writer gets his/her information/ideas in which to write?
Why?
- In short, a writer gets their ideas from their life and all their experiences
- Nicole S. said that she thinks it’s a product of the time period, the culture, and all the factors that inevitably led up to a writer putting pen to paper
- Maya L. added to this assertion by making the claim that family life, especially in one’s formative years, contributes heavily to someone’s creative output later in life
- Connection was made to Kurt Vonnegut, who lived a miserable life of suffering, deaths of loved ones, and alcoholism
- He was falsely accused of crimes he likely did not commit and probably misdiagnosed
- As a result, all this angst and pain comes out in his writing
Activity/Classwork:
In our groups, we took turns reading “A Brief History of Communism in Russia”, and then answered 5 relevant questions on our google slides. Then, we did the same thing with “About the Author - George Orwell”. In reading these texts, we gained a more holistic understanding of the context of the writing of Animal Farm, the reason it was written, and what the story is an allegory for in the real world. At this point, the bell rang and class ended.
Reflection :
Although I’ve read Animal Farm before and grasped that it was about communism, I had nowhere near the depth and specificity of knowledge I now have in terms of the real life equivalent to the novel. I can’t wait to reread it now, fully comprehending how every event on the farm alludes to or allegorizes an event in history, particularly in the Russian Revolution. This lesson also made me think about the control a government can potentially have on its citizens/subjects.
Two things especially resonated with me:
- Orwell essentially fought with the Communists at first but later felt the need to write against them because they had betrayed him. Loyalties on all levels can be frighteningly fluid.
- This seems obvious, but we rarely consider authors as real people too; they are fallible, biased, and heavily affected emotionally and personally the same way everyone else. This hyperawareness of an author’s non-authorial life is not something I did since learning about F. Scott Fitzgerald in the eighth grade.
To answer the aim foundational knowledge of history and an author’s experiences add insight to the rationale for their works by placing us in the authors shoes so that all the connections become more apparent to us.
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