Blog #23- Christopher Nguyen- Period 2- 4/24/2020

Aim: How does Orwell criticize society through Boxer and Benjamin?

Do Now:

• Agree/Disagree: “I can trust those in positions of authority to make decisions that are in my best interest.”
• Personally, I disagree with the sentiment that those in positions of authority have my trust to make decisions in my best interest.  This is due to the fact that corruption, just like in the case of the pigs in Animal Farm runs rampant in day to day life.  It is unbelievable that someone will always do what is in someone else’s best interest, as they have so many people to take into account, including themselves, who they will often place above others. 
• If you had knowledge about a situation that could help someone else would you tell them, even though you might get in trouble? Explain
• Yes, I would tell them because it would be of use to them, especially, if omitting telling them would harm them.  I believe that it is better to be upfront than to hide something, as what they do with information is their business, not mine.  Regarding issues on my end, I probably wouldn’t get caught to begin with.  If I do, I probably wouldn’t care that much as well. 

After we completed the Do Now, whose purpose was to exercise our minds by gauging our thoughts/actions in a manner relating to what we are learning about leaders/society in Animal Farm, we moved onto a partnerwork/whole class discussion, whereupon we were given time to choose and analyze images based on the audience, the bias, the message, the perspective, and the persuasive technique (Aristotle’s) being used.  

Partner Work:

• The audience is those consuming abundant amounts of soda/beverage. 
• The bias is against sugary drinks of the sorts. 
• The message is that drinking too much soda can bring upon weight, diabetes, or heart disease.
• The perspective is from that of the government warning against the consumption of certain drinks for health purposes. 
• The persuasive technique being used is pathos, as it is shaming the consumer by asking if they are “pouring on the pounds.”

• The audience of the advertisement is everyone about to go into the summer season (probably young adults/teens).
• The bias is for getting a nice body, and that a nice body is essential for the summer. 
• The message is an advertisement for a weight loss concoction and that you need it to get your beach body. 
• The perspective is from that of an item-maker trying to get people to buy their product.
• The persuasive technique used is also pathos, which can be seen in how the advertiser, like that of the one before this, is putting an image of a fit woman into their ad in order to somewhat shame the person seeing it if they don’t have that body, and to inspire them into getting it.  

After we finished with this exercise, we moved onto learning what makes up a tragic hero and what the purpose of it is.  We found that tragic heroes are, “A person who must evoke a sense of pity and fear in the audience. He is considered a man of misfortune that comes to him through error of judgment. A tragic hero’s downfall evokes feelings of pity and fear among the audience. A tragic hero has the potential for greatness but is doomed to fail. They are trapped in a situation which cannot be won. They have some sort of tragic flaw, and this causes their fall from greatness. Even though they are the fallen hero, a moral victory is still won, so their spirit lives on.”

Besides for this, we also learned about the characteristics of tragic heroes.  They all have tragic flaws, excessive pride, a reversal of fate, a discovery moment, a nemesis, and catharsis.  

Finally, we were given an assignment to characterize the character Boxer in Animal Farm as a tragic hero and explain why we thought whatever we did.  

Reflection:  

• Overall, during today’s class, we were given the ability to identify and learn about tragic heroes; more specifically, what makes them tragic heroes.  From this, we were able to implement it into the stories we are reading and will read in the future in order to reach deeper understandings of the author’s decisions regarding their characters.  We will be able to use this as a method of characterizing certain characters on a new level, which will subsequently enable us to learn more from what we read. 

Blog Content:

• Personally, I find that working from home is an extremely different experience from working at school.   In  comparison to an environment whereupon we are put more on edge in order to learn, working from home allows for a lax environment with roughly the same material being covered.  Additionally, there is more leeway on due dates, as we are given time throughout each work cycle to complete our assignments instead of having to do it promptly.  Due to this, I actually find working from home to be more pleasant than working at school.  The only downside to it is that there is less physical activity and human interaction, as we do not have to shift throughout the schools for classes and cannot speak to people face to face, where we are forced to interact. 
• Regarding the world around me, I am finding that society is extremely convoluted, with people always eager to attack one another.  Not to be extremely political, but I find it quite interesting how the nature of those in power, such as the democratic and republic parties, is to banter with one another, hold off on relief packages or agreements which would support the overall population, and instead introduce new policies/deals irrelevant to the immense pressure that COVID-19 is placing upon us.  Instead of uniting with one another to function more smoothly and to get things done, they find it much easier to attack and berate one another.  That being said, they also find it easy to criticize others in power for putting things into work, and complain that they are not doing enough (such as the case of Governor Cuomo and President Trump).  
• In today’s English lesson, I was able to learn how to further characterize the characters I see throughout reading in a new light as a “tragic hero.”  By doing so,  I am now able to predict the future for certain characters I meet, and paint them within a certain trope to which they belong.  With the generalization given to me based off of the role of a “tragic hero,” I can further connect characters to both one another and to figures in society. From my comparisons with these things, I believe that I will have a greater understanding of human nature towards certain decisions and behind the reasonings of certain actions.