Blog #28
Jonathan Wong
Period 3 Sophomores 2020
4/30/2020
Aim-How does George Orwell’s themes of literary protest transcend time
Do Now
In our Do now, we had a discussion about how elitism was relevant in Animal farm. We talked about how the pigs were the elites in society and had a higher status than the other animals. They lived a lavish lifestyle and had privileges the other animals didn’t have. We then started discussing how elitism was relevant in society today. We talked about how poor people in society did not have access to healthcare, good education, and good food while rich people could go to private schools, afford good food, and health care.
Dilemma
On the next slide, we discussed a dilemma in which a classmate was humiliated by a photo being sent around the room and the person ran out of the classroom. We talked about what we would do in this situation and most people said they would run after them and try to talk to them. Some people said they would talk to the person who sent the photo out to everyone to try and fix the problem.
Whole Class Discussion
We learned about the background information about the writer, Richard Wright and his argument that “All literature is protest. You can't name a single novel that isn't protest.” We talked about how all books are a protest against something even if it seems like the author wrote it for entertainment. We also talked about Animal Farm as a protest against socialism because it showed how bad socialism was in Russia and that power corrupts people.
Group Work
We watched two videos about the dangers of cyberbullying and ways to stop it. We then learned about how satires are a piece of writing that shows a problem in society to bring about change. An example of this is Animal Farm because Orwell makes the animals suffer in the book in order to highlight the flaws of socialism in Russia. We then talked about the themes in Animal Farm. One example we had of a theme in Animal Farm was “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Working at home
Working at home feels very different than working in a classroom because you don’t get to see other students and it is harder to communicate with other people. It is also challenging because you do not get the same resources as in a classroom and you also get distracted easily by outside noises or relatives.
Covid19 Updates
More than 30 million people have filed for unemployment in the U.S. Half of the U.S will be expected to open by the end of the week . HOspitalizations, ICU admissions and new infections for covid19 are declining in New York. Many European countries are starting to reopen.
Reflection
In this lesson I learned about elitism in society and how certain people have privileges over others. I also learned about the prevalence of cyberbullying in society and use of themes and satire in novels in order to create a message about the problems in society. The lessons in Animal Farm stand the test of time and they influence us today . His writings help to show people how we shouldn’t always trust our leaders and that we should think for ourselves. This lesson today has taught me to think before I say anything harmful and to not always trust what other people say.
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