Independent+Novel+Studies

__**Animal Farm**__
 * __By George Orwell__**

__**Entry 1:**__ PAGES COVERED IN THIS ENTRY?

For my Independent Novel studies I chose to do “Animal Farm” by George Orwell. During the first few chapters of this novel, it was mainly introducing all of the animals that are living on the farm, which include a variety of different animals; from cows to ducks. We first meet “Major” who is an old pig, and is facing his last few days alive. He calls a meeting with all of the animals, and tells them all about Mr. Jones, and how he will sell them, then about how they will get butchered, and sold to humans, so that they can eat them. He then talked about starting a rebellion towards the humans, but he did not know when or how it will happen. Three days later Major dies, and the animals give him a burial then decide to start a rebellion, that their leader was talking about. They chase Mr. Jones off his own property, and they are extremely happy about what had just happened. They were having fun, relaxing, going into Mr. Jones’s house, but then all realized that they still needed to work on the farm, so they all decide what their jobs are. And begin to work, except for the pigs.

I decided to select this novel, because I had heard it is a very good book, from teachers and friends, and it is also about the Russian Revelutionary. I thought that it would be interesting to see how the author turned the famous rebellion, into a story about animals and humans. It goes along with the famous rebellion, because the animals were starting one themselves, against humans, not against other animals, which is a slight difference from the real thing. They want to end the human race, so that all animals can live happily and freely, and not do work, or be killed and eaten.

The author of this novel gets me to hold my interest for this book so far is, because the writing is nicely done, and it is not boring. It has some excitement, it doesn’t only talk about one thing or one person, or in this case an animal. It goes from every animal on the farm from Boxer to Snowball. They also have different opinions on things, some like the idea of the rebellion, but some do not, so it is nice to have different opinions on something, rather than everyone liking/thinking the same thing. Also, it keeps my interest, because it is on the Revulutionary, and I want to see how the author turns it into the rebellion even more, with animals.

9/10

__**Entry 2:**__ __**Dec. 10th, 2010.**__

After reading the next two and a half chapters of this book, which are from pages 34-56, some new things have happened. First of all, the rebellion between the animals and humans, has spread throughout the world, so mainly everyone now has heard of it. Even new animals from different farms are starting to fight as well, and are chasing their own farm owner off the property. The animals on animal farm are extremely happy with these results. Another event was when Mr. Jones and a few of his people came back to the farm, but the animals fought back with them, and successfully won, although Mr. Jones had shot one of the sheep down. One of the last events that had happened, was when Napoleon had decided to kick Snowball off the farm, because he thought he was dangerous, and also wanted to be the leader of the farm. Also, since Snowball had left, Napoleon could finally do his plan of making a windmill on the farm.

The setting of this novel takes place on a large farm in England, that is ran by Mr. Jones, and is full of many farm animals. In my opinion the setting of this novel is somewhat important, because it was during the time of the Russian Revolution, and England was fairly close to where the revolution was taking place. But, I think that it could have been happened in other places too, because the rebellion between the animals and humans was starting to become worldwide, so it does not really matter where it started (since it was spreading to almost every continent.)
 * What is the setting of the novel? Is the setting important or could the novel be happening anywhere? Why?**

**Is the language in the novel difficult or easy? GIve examples and explain**. Throughout these first couple of chapters in this novel, the language has been quite easy, and understandable. The words in this book are easy to read and follow, mainly there are no hard/difficult words, (so far), and also it is nothing like William Shakespeare’s writing, which for some is quite difficult to understand. Also, the way the author describes things is easy to follow as well, so everything is clear, not confusing, and you do not need to go back to reread and review things.

I find that the style of this novel is very easy to follow, because it explains what is happening, with quite a bit of detail. It is easy to understand what some of the characters are like, but as well as how they feel about the rebellion. Also, the events that are being talked about were easy to follow, because they were detailed and described; such as when Mr. Jones and his men came back, the author was telling what the animals were doing to them, but also described their feelings (when Boxer was upset, because he thought had killed a boy.) Lastly, the language of this book is very easy to understand, which helps making the events more clear of what has happened.
 * Comment on the style of the novel. Is it easy or hard to follow the events?**

10/10

__**Entry 3:**__ __**Dec. 16th, 2010.**__

Since reading from pages 56-78, some more new things have happened in this novel. The first thing I read, was that the windmill and the rocks had fallen and crumbled to the ground. This loud happening had woken up all of the animals on the farm, and they all ran to see what had happened, but of course Napoleon (the leader) was the first to get there. Once he had saw what happened, he immediately blamed Snowball. He thought that Snowball had snuck across their field to the windmill and destroyed the whole thing to get revenge for kicking him off the farm. Once they figured it out, they then went to investigate; and found that there were tracks of pigs foot prints leading to one of the other neighbors farms. After that, they found that food was missing, and milk was spilled, and all sorts of mischief. They also investigated it, and found that there was evidence of Snowball being everywhere to destroy their things. In the next chapter, Napoleon calls a meeting, which all of the animals attend, he asks them if they have been doing mischief themselves, or have seen Snowball doing some mischief, as well. After a few of the animals admitted that they had dreams about Snowball, and that he was telling them what to do, they were then executed. The other animals were frightened and worried after seeing that some of the other animals on the farm were executed.

I think that the first problem faced by the main character, (who in my opinion is Napoleon) is that Snowball also wanted to be the leader of the animals at the farm since they took control of it. Napoleon thought that Snowball was very dangerous and did not want him to become the leader, and thought that he himself would be a much better leader. So, he decided to get help from the other animals, and kick Snowball off the farm forever; which happened to be one of the first problems for Napoleon after they had taken control of the farm.
 * What is the initial or first problem faced by the main character?**

After the original problem progresses, some new things are added to it; such as when the windmill crumbles down to pieces. This adds to the original problem, because it makes Napoleon hate Snowball even more, which makes him even angrier than before. And, once he finds pig footprints in the ground leading to another farm, that takes him off the deep board. Once he demanded the meeting between all of the animals, and killed them, (because they had dreams about Snowball or saw him,) that added a lot more to the problem, because many of the animals had had dreams about him. Also, they promised the only enemy was humans, and not other animals, which meant they would never harm an animal, which however ended up being broken.
 * What new things are added to the original problem as the novel progresses?**

After reading these pages, I found that when Napoleon killed all of the other farm animals for dreaming of Snowball was unexpected. I found it unexpected, because near the beginning of the book all of the animals said that all animals are friends, and that humans are the enemies, and that they should never kill something with four legs, which are all animals. Also, I didn’t expect Napoleon to kill the animals for just dreaming about him, I would understand more if they had helped Snowball destroy or steal things, but dreaming about him doesn’t really harm anything that has happened.
 * What plot twists or unexpected events happen as the novel goes on?**

__**Entry 4:**__ __**Jan. 7th, 2011.**__

After reading another chapter, which are from pages 78-94, some new things have happened, such as a battle between the animals and Frederick. First of all, all the animals love Napoleon as their leader and will do almost anything for him. One of the animals made a short song for Napoleon, and Napoleon demanded that it should be put on the wall where all of their rules are written. After that, Napoleon thinks that someone is trying to kill him, and so he tells the four dogs to be his guards during day and night, and he also made a smaller pig taste some of his food before Napoleon eats it, just incase it is poisoned. Then later on in the chapter, Frederick and his men come to animal farm armed with guns and other weapons. Once all of the animals see the guns they retreat, and watch them from a distance. Frederick's men make a whole in the windmill that the animals made, and put dynamite in it, and then their windmill blows up leaving a cloud of smoke in the air. Once Napoleon sees this, he demands that they attack the men; which they do. Boxer crushed a few men's heads, and all of the other men had run away, or were injured from the other animals. It was another victory for animal farm, although almost all of the animals had been shot or hurt in some other way. Even Napoleon was shot at the tip of his tail leaving it to bleed. The next day, the animals find out that Napoleon is dying, which breaks the hearts of the other animals, because they found him to be such a great leader. But, then a few hours later they then find out that Napoleon is alright and is recovering quite well.

In this chapter we are introduced to Frederick for the first time; although we have heard of him in previous chapters, but hadn't met him. We find out that Frederick had bought some timber from Napoleon, but they ended up being forgeries, which upset and angered all of the animals, because they hate Frederick and were looking to make more money for things on the farm. After that, Frederick brings a few of his men to animal farm, with their weapons. Once the animals saw him they began to attack until they saw all of the mens weapons. Frederick and his men walk over to the windmill and he tells his men to blow it up, which they do, and run in all different directions. Once the animals see what happened they attacked, leaving Frederick run for his life to survive, which he does. I think that the purpose of Frederick was to make all of the animals more angry, and to injure them, even though he was looking forward to taking over the farm.
 * Describe any new characters that are introduced? What is their purpose? **

To me, this novel isn't really believable, because it's about talking animals, and them forcing humans off the farm. In real life, this would never happen, although some animals are big and strong, I think that humans are much stronger and faster (than some animals) and could easily take over the farm in a few minutes or hours, with all of our weapons, and such. Also, most animals aren't smart in a way to be more powerful than a human, and work together with different animals, they are smart in other ways.
 * Is the novel believable?**

I would recommend this book to one of my friends, because I find that it is different than other books, because the animals are the ones in the story, and the author is talking about how they feel, what they think and say. Mostly all of the other novels have a human as the main character. Also, it's different, because if this book were actually real, the animals would have no hope against a group of armed strong humans, but in the book they do. I might not recommend this book to a friend though, because if they don't know about the Russian Revolution it might be a little confusing, and hard to understand what might be happening in it.
 * Why would you (or why wouldn't you) recommend this novel to a friend? **


 * __ Entry 5: __**
 * __ Jan. 11th, 2011. __**

I have now finished the last two remaining chapters in my novel, which are from pages 94-120. First of all, Boxer is not recovering very well from the battle against Frederick and his men; however he is still focused on working and will not give up. The animals were planning on building the windmill once again; which they started, although it was going a little slower, because Boxer wasn't able to contribute as much as he did before. One day when they were taking a break, Boxer went out to the windmill by himself so that he could work. A few minutes later some of the pigeons came back and told everyone that they saw Boxer lying on the ground. All of the animals ran straight away, not even waiting from Napoleon to let them go. Once all of the animals had gotten there, they saw Boxer lying on his side not being able to move, he couldn't hardly even move his head. They asked what happened and Boxer said it was his lungs. The other animals were panicking a little, but they then decided that it would be best for Boxer if he was sent to the Willingdon hospital. Boxer spent his next few days in his stall not moving, just relaxing from what has happened. The next day the van came ready to pick up Boxer, all the animals came running out saying 'good-bye' to him. But, Benjamin came running out and started calling all of the animals 'fools', the other animals were confused of why Benjamin was saying this until he said "Alfred Simmonds, Horse Slaughterer and Glue Boiler, Willingdon. Dealer in hides and Bone-Meal. Kennels Supplied." The animals didn't clue in at first, until Benjamin said that they were taking Boxer to his death. Once they realized what was happening they started yelling at Boxer to get out there, but the van was already moving faster and faster. Clover came out running and yelled to Boxer what was happening, they didn't know if Boxer had heard clearly, but then they saw Boxer trying to kick his way out, however he was not able to, and he was sent to his death. In the next chapter, years had past and Boxer was now forgotten, and many of the animals have died, such as Muriel, Bluebell, Jessie, and Pincher. Clover was now old, and Napoleon was a mature boar of twenty-four stone. A few pages in, we learned that the pigs were beginning to act like humans, they even started walking on two legs, they even began to say 'four legs good, two legs better!' At the end the pigs invite over Mr.Pilkington and became friends. The animals outside of the farm house who were watching what was happening inside looked both at the pigs and men, and could not tell 'which was which.'

__What information did you need to know before reading the novel? __ Before reading this novel, you didn't need to know a whole lot about it. Even though it takes place during the Russian Revolution, it didn't talk very much about it. However, if you don't know anything about the Russian Revolution, you should then learn a little bit about it, which would most likely help make the book make more sense to you.

__**What is the climax of the novel? **__ For me, there were two climax's or even more that I noticed. The very first one I noticed, which happens sort of near the beginning of the book, is when Napoleon finally decides to take over animal farm, and became the leader of it. I think that this is one of the climax's, because the whole story would have never even have happened until the animals finally decided that it would be a good idea if they did kick off the humans, and run it themselves. The second one I noticed was near the ending of the book, which was when the leading pigs began acting like humans. This is one of the climax's, because in the beginning all of the animals said that humans are the enemies, and anything that walked on two legs is bad; however the pigs are now walking on their hind legs, and acting like humans do. This changed the whole story, because they were never supposed to get close to humans or act like them.

__**Why did (or didn't) the novel meet your expectations? **__ This novel did meet my expectations of what I thought it would be like, because there were not very many boring parts in it. Everything was fast paced, there were also some twists to the novel, such as when Napoleon killed some of the animals for thinking/dreaming/seeing Snowball, and also how the pigs became close to the humans at the end, and that the other animals couldn't tell which were the humans and which were the pigs. All these things and more made me really enjoy reading this novel.