Matt

=Matt's Reading Log (Vocab Enricher, Discussion Director, Passage Master, Connector, Researcher)=

__Summary__
In the preface, Russel Baker talks about how George Orwell really stretched what was acceptable with this book. at the time that the book came out, even the people in America liked the Soviets and the way they handled things in Russia. The book //Animal Farm// pushed the boundries on what was going to be accepted by the masses. George Orwell was even turned down a number of times by publishers. The Introduction by C.M. Woodhouse also touched upon the same lines as the Preface, but talked more in depth about Orwell as a person and writer rather than mostly about his book. Though he talks about //Animal Farm,// he spends more time talking about George Orwell's writing abilities and the struggleshe had to go through with certain objects,and the relations that his writing had to other events and people.


 * __Vocab Enricher__

Shibboleth** - page xxi in introduction - i chose this word because it looked very interesting and I've never even seen anything spelled like it before. --definition--: "a common saying or belief with little current meaning or truth"

--definition--: "characterized by or resembeling swine."
 * Swinish //-//** page viii in preface-not a very hard word to figure out the meaning of, but quite interesting to look at! Yep

--definition--: a" member of an apparat, esp. in a Communist country."
 * Apparatchik** - page i in preface - an interesting term i had never heard before. I thought it deserved a look-up.

--definition--: "an organization or existing power structure, esp. a political one" 
 * Apparat -** to help understand the definition of the last word.


In these chapters all of animals are introduced and the main plot of the book is revealed. there is one major character inthe beginning who sparks the idea of a rebellion in all of the animals. This is an extremely old boar named Old Major. he tells the animals that the time for a rebellion is coming, and that they shoul dget ready. however, he soon dies, leaving his message in their minds. soon though, they get their chance and they break free from the barn after a particularly neglectful job of the farmhands of not feeding the animals. they drive the humans away from the farm and claim it as their own. the two pigs take over and are the only ones who can read and write, so they write the main points of what Old Major said on a wall for everyone to see.
 * __Summary__**

So far in the book we've met the main cast of the characters and have been given distinct characteristics for many of them. How do you think that these traits will come into play later, (just guesses, not like revealing anything if you already know) i.e. when Old Major is having his speech and he talks to Boxer about how if his strength finally runs out he will become useless and be sold. |some good examples of animals to talk about could be Clover *the horse*, or Benjamin *the donkey*, or Mollie *the Mare*.| Just something to throw out there.
 * __Discussion Director__**

Also, as far as this rebellion that the Old Major is hinting at not too vaguely is concerned, how well do you think it would go over? Do you think that all of these animals would have an easy or a hard time taking over the farm? 1211377480 Yeah, so I forgot to add any questions about chapter II, as that was included in our reading as well.

Well, when I wrote the Questions I hadn't read chapter II yet, so the whole 2nd part about whether the animals will have an easy time taking over the farm...is pretty much answered in chapter 2.

So here are some new ones. (But still answer the first set of Questions in the first paragraph I made before.

We’ve seen perhaps a hint of what's to come, with the problem of the milk at the end of chapter 2. What do you think this action will escalate to in the future?

Furthermore, the point has been stated that Snowball and Napoleon are the only two animals who know how to read and write; could this come into effect later if some power struggle comes into play?

And lastly, do you think the humans are gone for good, or will they come back?

 Chapter III


 * __Summary__**

Well, in Chapter three a few more things happened. We see that the animals //do// have the capacity to work together to get what they want, but it has been clearly noted that the pigs seem to be in a higher position than the others. this is shown especially well at the end of the chapter, when the pigs admit to taking the milk and the apples, but they tell the other animals it is to keep themselves smart and fit. This seems to be the first step to the pigs taking over the farm.


 * __PASSAGE MASTER!__**

"four legs good, two legs bad." page 26. -this is showing the adaption of the main solid commandments, to what the masses can understand. the problem is though that this new code can be manipulated in it's meaning much easier, as it does not cover crimes and such.

"Squealer was sent to make the necessary explanations to the others." page 27. -Squealer has been used alot to change the animals' views on important topics. Maybe it's a reference to propaganda used In russia by stalin at the time. Either way, it shows how manipulative the pigs can be, as well as how clever they can be.

"but it was noticed that these two were never in agreement" page 24 -this quote shows a small division between snowball and napoleon. this could become very important in the future, especially if a power struggle occurs.

Chapter IV 

In Chapter IV, a new event takes place that looks like it will be very important later. In this chapter, for the first time, we see the humans and their perspective on this whole situation. However, it seems a little strange that they haven't immediately taken the farm with guns, but I guess it keeps the accurate representation of the happenings in Russia this way. Anyway, the humans march onto Animal Farm with Mr. Jones in the lead with a shotgun. He has a band of men behind him, all armed with sticks. So they attack the farm, but get repelled by the intelligence of Snowball and his master military planning skills! They honor the day, and surprisingly, only one sheep dies.
 * __Summary__**


 * __CONNECTER__**

well, obviously this book is representing the happpening in russia in the time of Stalin, and the entire class changes that are going on. but Animal farm is not only just this comparison between animals and Stalinized russia, but it is also an excellent literary work. some of you may be thinking, 'Oh really?! I had //no idea// that Animal farm was proclaimed to be an excellent and revolutionary literary piece!' (note the italicized sarcasm) either way, it's true. i have read many books in my life so far, as my shelves are full of ones from many different genres, but this has to be one of the most interesting in its actual writing style. George orwell writes as if he's trying to get right down to the bread and butter of the story. He doesn't waste much time on petty introductions, and wastes no time at all with insignificant B-grade sub-plots. I haven't really seen this before in a novel. in fact, the way it is written would suggest that it was just a //very// long short story instead of a novel. All in all, it reminds me of some more of modern fiction book rather than a parody for the Russian Revolution.



Chapter V

In chapter 5 something big happens!! The two ruling pigs have an debate before the farm on whether to build a windmill to power the farm. at first it's just the normal kind of snowball and Napoleon argument, but it turns into something more when Napoleon sics some killer dogs on snowball! Now Snowball has been outlawed frm the farm and been deemed a sort of a traitor. there's no real good reason why, but they just marked him with this title and the rest of the animals seem to accept it. The crazy thing now though is that they actually //are// building the windmill, when Napoleon was against it in the first place.
 * __Summary__**

So, one of the first things that i thought would be interesting to look up, was the flag that the animals made, the one with the hoof and the horn on it. So I had a vague idea of what it should look like, but when I found a picture someone had made of it, I realized it bore a striking resemblence to the Soviet Flag
 * __Researcher__**



apparently, i just checked the images and they aren't working right, but I'm not really good at the whole wiki-text-reading thing, so right above is the best i can do. Anyway... This is a very interesting thing i don't think a normal person reading this would pick up on unless they thought a bit about the shape it said that flag was panted in.

Also, I was interested in the available windmill technology in this time,but unfortunately, the book never really specifies a specific time period in which it is happening. However, when I looked at the technology that the animals are using, (i.e. plows and older farming tools) and how the book says that these were primitive, I think that I can assume that this is around the 1960's. It's hard to tell because it's with a rural farm location. However, the fact that they are building a tower windmill (a windmill made out of stones, the same types of materials used to build houses at the time) and not one made out of steel suggests that it may even be earlier than the 1960's, but not by much.




Chapter VI & VII


 * __Summary__**

These were a very interesting couple of chapters. For one, the animals are actually succeeding in building this windmill, against both the humans' and my own doubts. Also Napoleon and some other pigs have seemingly gained complete comtrol of the farm. with all of the viscious dogs (which i believe resemble the military force under stalin's rule at this time) and Squeaker on their side. however, at times, even Boxer, admittedly not the smartest animal on the farm, has spoken his doubts. I think his intellegence or lack there-of works to napoleon's benefit however. All of the other animals look up to him and respect him, and he has porved that the attack dogs can't hurt him, as he fended off an accidental attack from 3 of them. But i also think if he keeps up this work, he's going to hurt himself, and that won't be good for anyone, especially him. Then he won'tbe needed anymore. 2 more major things happened as well. one was with the windmill, the pride and joy of the work of all of the animal. it had been knocked over! Now granted, it was in the middle of a giant storm, and trees were flying everywhere, but Napoleon blamed it on Snowball. the rest of the animals were suspicious at first, but eventually they accepted it as the truth. And later, as food was running short and the animals were starting to starve, Napoleon gathered everyone together and had a group confess-and-get-slaughtered party where animals who had done bad things because of or with snowball were murdered! Some of the animals seem on the edge of rebellion, but what will happen next?


 * __Vocab__

ignominious -** page 51- sounded like a cool word to know, something to pull out in a conversation and be like, "Wha-Bam! I'm Smart!". Also because it's talking about how snowball's expultion from the farm was veiwed. definition - "Deserving disgrace or shame; despicable."

definition - "appearance, especially the look or expression of the face"
 * countenance** page 60 - I chose this becuase i really had no idea what it meant.

there really weren't any other vocabulary words that i could find, nothing that tripped //me// up at least.

 Chapter VIII


 * __Summary__**

Even thought It was only one chapter we had to read, more important events went on here than in any other chapter. first of all, the animals are still reeling from the excecutions, but they looked up on the barn wall to see what was said about killing other animals, (for they thought it was strictly forbidden) but apparently they forgot that there was a //without cause// at the end. of course this was added later no doubt by the pigs, but they animals just can't seem to put two and two together. On a different note, There was another big battle at the Farm, but it was between the animals and Frederick this time. (frederick is a neighbor of animal farm). They had a big battle in which a few humans were killed but a lot of animals were as well, (i.e. about 8 i think). However, the humans also Blew up the Windmill!!!! It was right after they finished it too!. I felt kind of bad for them. Some animals were wounded in the fight, but i think the one that has to be noticed most is Boxer. His leg was wounded greatly, and he even said himself that maybe he was getting old, and not as strong anymore. Apart from the Big-Ol' Battle, Napoleon has also set himself apart from the other animals as well. Instead of just sleeping in the Farm house, He has taken it upon himself to be seperate from all of the other pigs and has declared himself the Leader of the Farm, basically. He has made it so that all of the other animals look up to him.

At the end of Chapter 8, squealer is shown to be found in the barn with paint, a ladder, and a lantern. What could he have been doing? //Certainly not changing the Laws on the Wall, noooooo. that would be outrageous!// Of course, the Animals have no clue it seems...except for Benjamin ('bout time buddy). but he doesn't seem to want to tell anyone about what he knows.

questions:
 * __Discussion Director__**

Firstly, The Idea of Snowball as a traitor and plotting against Animal Farm has been thrown around so many times (some as completely ridiculous as him throwing some keys down the well) that I'm starting to believe that not only he really isn't this traitor they say he is, but that he probably won't even show up in person again in the book. How you guys feel about this?

One short thing on the Windmill; do you think that the Animals will even want to rebuild it again? And if not, do you think Napoleon will force them to?

As for what happened at the end of the chapter, with Squealer being discovered in the barn with white paint and a ladder (obviously changing the Laws) do you think that the animals will finally be able to put two and two together and figure out what's going on?



Chapter IX

NOOOOO!!!! BOXER!!! WHY?!. *sniff* *sniff*
 * __Summary__**

Well, as you may have been able to tell from what i just said, someting very sad happened in this chapter. Boxerk, who was just about to retire, had an accident while working on the windmill. He was pulling a stone or something and suddenly one of his lung was injured. At this time we see that Benjamin and Clover seem to be the two animals that are closest to Boxer. They were telling him earlier that he shouldn't be working so hard, but at this moment the animals send for squealer to help. he says that a van from the hospital was sent ot pick him up. However, when it arrived, (so convieniently when all the animals are working) Benjamin runs over and tell them what is happening. At first all the animals are running to say goodbye to him, but Benajmin tells them that it's van for slaughtering horses for glue and such, and then everyone starts to panic! They yell to boxer and he tries to get out, but he wasn't able to. it seems he had become too weak in his old age. But even after seeing this horrible thing happen with their own eyes, Squealer is still able to convince them that it was the hospital's van that was just painted by it's previous owner. Everyone accepts this, but I highly doubt that Benjamin is so easily fooled. I start to sympathize with him not wanting to really talk to the other animals. He must feel like theres no point, as they're too stupid, and that he doesn't want to put a target on his own back for the pigs to see.


 * __Passage MASTER!__**

"Indeed it was the first time that anyone had ever seen him gallop." - page 86 (in my book)- This shows for the first time that Benajmin is getting really involved with something, and it is fitting with someone he cares about a lot and doesn't want the other stupid animals to harm.

"Surely they knew their beloved Leader, Comrade Napoleon, better than that?" - page 89 (again, for me)- This quote, when coming from the mouth of squealer, seems like something that would just make me tear out my ears. I sit here and read all of this and my mind keeps flipping between, 'how can they not see what's going on?!" to 'well they //are// just animals." and then back again. But this quote specifcally shows the impact that squealer has had on all of them over this long period of time, and how he can make them change their minds on even the gravest of issues, such as this one with boxer.



<span style="FONT-SIZE: 160px; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Black', Gadget, sans-serif">Chapter X

well, as the book wraps up, some stuff happens, but at the same time, it has ben expected all along. Chapter ten begins many years after boxer's death and the only origional naimals still around are Napoleon, Squealer, Benjamin, and Clover. Napoleon by now is a full grown boar and Squealer is quite a porker. AKA, he's really fat. Benjamin and Clover has just seemed to age normally. However, while both Clover and Benjamin are over the age of retirment, a portion of feild was never set aside for the older animals, and they were always just expected to work. However, things basically stayed the same over time with the farm and the work system, untill one day the pigs decide to walk on their two legs! of course they had to get the sheep to change their chant, but this marks a huge change for the farm. untill now, there has not been any specific thing such as this that makes the animals resemble the humans. The pigs even start to wear clothes. And, at the very end of the book, the animals sneak up to the farmhouse when the pigs are inside talking with none other than the humans! They are all sitting at the same table and sharing the same drinks! the last line in the book shows how the animals finally understand what the pigs' true intentions are, but leaves us without a happy ending unfortunately.
 * __Summary__**

Animals farm was a great book i thought. I had never read it before, and that made it all the better. Although i was a little mad when in the introduction it talked about Boxer getting sold out to make glue, i was still suprised by many of the things that happened. I Found it's deeper meaning pretty stunning for such a short book, but it still had all of the bang that a bigger one would have.


 * __Connector__**

Well, the pigs have finnaly achieved their goal, a world in which they rule their own farm and where they control the money. Obviously this was the goal frm the start, but they had to ease into it. This economic goal seems to fit right into what russia wanted at the time too, with mroe money and power for Stalin.

I think that also, it was Napoleon's goal to wait for such a dramatic change (the walking on two legs) until almost all of the animals from the first rebellion died. Otherwise I think that not even the sheep woul dhave been able to stop the animals from doing something.

THE END