~The Lottery

The Lottery

Foreshadowing:
When the children gather a pile of stones and filling pockets, it is fairly evident that the stones are going to be used in a manner not conducive to continued life. Quotation: “Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example”
The fact that the men gathered away from the rock pile indicates that they know that what is going to happen is wrong. Quotation: “They stood together, away from the pile of stones in the corner, and their jokes were quiet and they smiled rather than laughed.”

Symbolism:
The setting for the lottery takes place in the same place as the square dances, the teen-age club, and the Halloween program. This unifies our lives with those of the story sense we can relate to those types of events, and is symbolic in showing that even though this dastardly deed happens here that it is still the main place of celebration. Showing how easy it is for us, as human beings, to clean our conscientious by going back to a place that is a place of death and make it a place of delight.
The black box is a good representation of the central idea to the story. The box is painted in black, which has always been a universal symbol for evil and death. The box also symbolizes a type of mystery, but as we read the ending we realize that it is tantamount with doom. Someone's fate lies in this object, the black box. This black box revolves around all the evil acts executed in the past and the ones to come.
When Tessie was in no danger she was gossiping with the other ladies and even encouraged her husband to go and pick a piece of paper. When Tessie wins the lottery however, she pleads for another chance and screams for mercy. She demands that her daughters take their chances as well, which is caused her own sense of basic survival. After Mr. Hutchison knows that he is safe he then symbolically portrays traits such as cowardice and indifference. Bill Hutchinson is apparently so scared of saying no to authority and the towns traditions that he will not take the necessary steps to protect his family. As a matter of fact he aids them in the death of his wife by forcing her to show the black spot. When a man is willing not just to stand by and watch as his wife stoned to death, but actually force her into it is symbolic of just how evil and controlling our traditions can be to us.


Themes:
Violence and cruelty  Violence is a major theme in “The Lottery.” While the stoning is a cruel and brutal act, its emotional impact is enchanced by the setting the story in a seemingly civilized and peaceful society. This suggests that horrifying acts of violence can take place anywhere at anytime, and they can be committed by the most ordinary people. Also addressed is the psychology behind mass cruelty by presenting a community whose citizens refuse to stand as individuals and oppose the lottery and who instead unquestioningly take part in the killing of an innocent and accepted member of their village with no apparent grief or remorse.
Quotations: It is found towards the end of the story, when the villagers kill a person that they had known as friend or family, that they would kill her in cold blood, just because they are afraid to stand up against the tradition, even though its uses are not even proven.
Custom and Tradition  Another theme of “The Lottery” concerns the blind following of tradition and the negative consequences of such an action. The people of the village continue to take part in the lottery even though they cannot remember certain aspects of the ritual, such as the “tuneless chant” and the “ritual salute,” simply because the event has been held for so long that these aspects have been lost to time. Jackson highlights the theme of tradition through symbolism. For example, the black box from which the slips of paper are drawn represents the villagers’ inability to change. The box is very old and in bad shape, but when it is suggested that the people make a new box, the subject is “allowed to fade off without anything’s being done.” Further emphasizing the long history of both the box and the ritual, the narrator notes: “There was a story that the present box had been made with some pieces of the box that had preceded it, the one that had been constructed when the first people settled down to make a village here.” Old Man Warner, the oldest man in the village, also represents the theme of tradition.
Quotation: When Mr. and Mrs. Adams suggest to Warner that some other villages have already given up the lottery or are thinking about doing so, he replies with, “Next thing you know, they’ll be wanting to go back to living in caves. . . . There’s always been a lottery.”

Use Of Language:
The use of friendly language among the villagers and the presentation of the lottery as an event similar to the square dances and Halloween programs illustrates the lottery as a welcomed, festive event. Jackson describes the social atmosphere of the women prior to the drawing. The lottery is conducted in a particular manner, and with so much anticipation by the villagers, that the reader expects the winner to receive a prize or something of that manner. It is not until the every end of the story that the reader learns of the winner’s fate: Death, by friends and family.
Also, the use of language during the drawing, and after the drawing, distinctively hints at the people’s wish to get the lottery over with quickly, as though they desired for the kill to begin, and as though they enjoyed killing Tessie, showing the hysteria of humans, when their true nature is revealed.

~Markie

Animal Farm (2)

Ok, here are the rest of the characters...

There are four main equine (horse and donkey) characters: Clover, Boxer, Benjamin, and Mollie.

Boxer is one of the main characters. He is the pathetic symbol of the working class, or proletariat: loyal, kind, dedicated, respectful and physically the strongest animal on the farm, but naïve and slow. His ignorance and blind trust towards his leaders leads to his death and their profit. In particular, his heroic physical work represents the Stakhanovite movement. His maxim of "I will work harder" is reminiscent of Jurgis Rudkus from the Upton Sinclair novel The Jungle. His second maxim, "Napoleon is always right" is an example of the propaganda used by Squealer to control the animals. It was not adopted until later in the book. Boxer's work ethic is often praised by the pigs, and he is set as a prime example to the other animals. When Boxer is injured, and can no longer work, Napoleon sends him off to the knacker's yard and deceives the other animals, saying that Boxer died peacefully in the hospital. When the animals cannot work, Napoleon tosses them aside, for they mean nothing to him and Napoleon was not just done with Boxer because he could not work. He was also afraid of Boxer. Boxer had the strength and leadership to overthrow Napoleon. Napoleon never saw that Boxer would never do this because he was loyal to Napoleon.

Clover, Boxer's companion, is also a draft horse. She helps and cares for Boxer when he splits his hoof. She blames herself for forgetting the original Seven Commandments when Squealer had actually revised them. Clover is compassionate, as is shown when she protects the baby ducklings during Major's speech. She is also upset when animals are executed by the dogs, and is held in great respect by the three younger horses who ultimately replace Boxer. Beyond being the matriarch it is hard to find a political role for her in the novel.

Mollie is a self-centred and vain white mare who likes wearing ribbons in her mane, eating sugar cubes (which represent luxury) and being pampered and groomed by humans. She represents upper-class people, the bourgeoisie and nobility who fled to the West after the Russian Revolution and effectively dominated the Russian diaspora. Accordingly, she quickly leaves for another farm and is only once mentioned again.

Benjamin is a wise old donkey who shows little emotion and is one of the longest-lived animals; he is still alive at the end of the book and probably lives even longer than Napoleon. The animals often ask him about his lack of expression but he always answers with: 'Donkeys live a long time. None of you have ever seen a dead donkey.' Benjamin can also read as well as any pig, but rarely displays his ability. He is a dedicated friend to Boxer and is very upset when Boxer is taken away. Benjamin has known about the pigs' wrongdoing the entire time, but he says nothing to the other animals. He represents the cynics in society. Another possibility is that Benjamin is an allegory for intellectuals who have the wisdom to stay clear of the purges, but take no action themselves, such as pacifists, whose 'line' Orwell firmly disliked. Yet another possibility is that Benjamin is Orwell himself.

Muriel is a wise old goat who is friends with all of the animals on the farm. She, like Benjamin and Snowball, is one of the few animals on the farm who can read (with some difficulty, she has to spell the words out first) and helps Clover discover that the Seven Commandments have been continually changed. She possibly represents the same category as Benjamin, though she dies near the end of the book from old age.

The Puppies, were raised by Napoleon to be his security force, and may be reference to the fact that Stalin's rise to power was helped by his appointment as General Secretary of the Communist Party by Lenin in 1922, in which role he used his powers of appointment, promotion and demotion to quietly pack the party with his own supporters. The puppies represent Stalin's secret police.

Moses the Raven is an old bird that occasionally visits the farm with tales of a place in the sky called Sugarcandy Mountain, where he says animals go when they die, but only if they work hard. He spends time turning the animals' minds to Sugarcandy Mountain and he does no work. He represents religious leaders, specifically the Russian Orthodox Church, and Sugarcandy Mountain is Heaven. Religion is banned in the new régime, and his religious persona is exacerbated by the fact that he is named after a biblical character. He feels unequal in comparison to the other animals, so he leaves after the rebellion, for all animals were supposed to be equal. However, much later in the book he returns to the farm and continues to proclaim the existence of Sugarcandy Mountain. The other animals are confused by the pigs' attitude towards Moses; they denounce his claims as nonsense, but allow him to remain on the farm. The pigs do this to offer the hope of a happy afterlife to the other animals, probably to keep their minds on Sugarcandy Mountain and not on possible uprisings. This is an allegory to Stalin's pact with the Russian Orthodox Church. In the end, Moses is one of few animals to remember the rebellion, along with Clover, Benjamin, and the pigs.

The Sheep represent the mass proletariat, manipulated to support Napoleon in spite of his treachery. They show limited understanding of the situations but support him anyway, and regularly chant "Four legs good, Two legs bad". At the end of the novel, one of the Seven Commandments is changed after the pigs learn to walk on two legs, so they shout "Four legs good, two legs better". They can be relied on by the pigs to shout down any dissent from others.

The Rats may represent some of the nomadic people in the far north of the USSR.

The Hens may represent the Kulaks as they destroy their eggs rather than hand them over to Napoleon, just as during collectivisation some Kulaks destroyed machinery or killed their livestock.

That's all of the characters...

One more thing though. In Animal Farm, the flag which the animals fly as the flag of their "Republic of Animals" has significant similarities with the USSR flag. The horn and hoof on the flag distinctly looks like the hammer and sickle of the USSR flag.

Well, these are most of the symbols in Animal Farm. If I do find more to write on it, I will do so. But for now, one must have some sleep. xD

~Markie

Animal Farm (1)

Heya everyone, it's ben a long time since I last posted, but there isn't much for me to post on... =P

I've just finished reading Animal Farm, an excellent book written by George Owell. It describes a series of happenings after the animals in a farm called Manor Farm, revolt, driving the farmer, Mr Jones, out and proclaiming the farm as their own. I did a slight check on the internet, and fond out that Animal Farm isn't as simple as it seems. In fact, the whole book represents the nation of USSR, and in the end, the US and UK.

Ok, now for a small 'introduction' of the characters in the story.

By the way, this was based on pre-WWII, and follows it into post-WWII.

The events and characters in Animal Farm satirise Stalinism ("Animalism"), authoritarian government and human stupidity generally; Snowball is seen as Leon Trotsky and the head pig, Napoleon, is Stalin. Animalism is a term referred to by the animals of the 'Seven Commandments', which the pigs installed, and expected by all animals to abide to. They include:

1) Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
2) Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
3) No animal shall wear clothes.
4) No animal shall sleep in a bed.
5) No animal shall drink alcohol.
6) No animal shall kill any other animal.
7) All animals are equal

Now, these Seven Commandments are supposed to be abode to be ever animal, but the pigs, tasting power, decided to alter the commandments to their needs, and slowly, but surely, destroying everything the animals have worked so hard for. It is changed to this:

No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets;
No animal shall drink alcohol to excess
No animal shall kill any other animal without cause.

In the end of the book, it is said that the Seven Commandments were altered to one single Commandment, stating:

'All Animals Are Equal
But Some Animals Are
More Equal Than Others'

Now here's the irony.

Now,here come the characters...

Old Major - He is the inspiration that fuels the Rebellion in the book, and connections can be made between him and Karl Marx (in that he describes the ideal society the animals could create if the humans are overthrown) or Vladimir Lenin (in that his skull is put on revered public display, as was Lenin's embalmed corpse).

Napoleon - He is the main tyrant and villain of Animal Farm and is based upon Joseph Stalin. He begins to gradually build up his power, using puppies he took from mother dogs Jessie and Bluebell, which he raises to be vicious dogs as his secret police. After driving Snowball off the farm, Napoleon usurps full power, using false propaganda from Squealer and threats and intimidation from the dogs to keep the other animals in line. Among other things, he gradually changes the Commandments to allow himself privileges such as eating at a table and to justify his dictatorial rule. By the end of the book, Napoleon and his fellow pigs have learned to walk upright and started to behave similarly to the humans against whom they originally revolted. Napoleon's name adds to the novella's themes of totalitarian dictators rising from vacuum of power and absolute power corrupting absolutely. The character's namesake, Napoleon Bonaparte, forcibly took control from a weak government in 1799, installed himself as First Consul and eventually crowned himself Emperor.

Snowball - Napoleon's rival, he is an allusion to Leon Trotsky. He wins over most animals, but is driven out of the farm by Napoleon. Snowball genuinely works for the good of the farm and devises plans to help the animals achieve their vision of an egalitarian Utopia, but Napoleon and his dogs chase him from the farm, and Napoleon spreads rumours to make him seem evil and corrupt and that he had secretly sabotaged the animals' efforts to improve the farm. In his biography of Orwell, Bernard Crick suggests that Snowball was as much inspired by the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM) leader Andrés Nin as by Trotsky. Nin was a similarly adept orator and also fell victim to the Communist purges of the Left during the Spanish Civil War.

Squealer - He serves as Napoleon's right hand pig and minister of propaganda. Inspired by Vyacheslav Molotov and the Soviet paper Pravda, Squealer manipulates the language to excuse, justify, and extol all of Napoleon's actions. He represents all the propaganda Stalin used to justify his own terrible acts. In all of his work, George Orwell made it a point to show how politicians used language. Squealer limits debate by complicating it and he confuses and disorients, making claims that the pigs need the extra luxury they are taking in order to function properly, for example. However, when questions persist, he usually uses the threat of the return of Mr Jones, the former owner of the farm, to justify the pigs' privileges. Squealer uses statistics to convince the animals that life is getting better and better. Most of the animals have only dim memories of life before the revolution; therefore, they are convinced.

Mr. Jones represents Nicholas II of Russia, the deposed Czar, who had been facing severe financial difficulties in the days leading up to the 1917 Revolution. The character is also a nod towards Louis XVI. There are several implications that he represents an autocratic but ineffective capitalist, incapable of running the farm and looking after the animals properly. Jones is a very heavy drinker and the animals revolt against him after he drinks so much that he does not feed or take care of them, and his attempt to recapture the farm is foiled in the Battle of the Cowshed (the Russian Civil War).

Mr. Frederick - The tough owner of Pinchfield, a well-kept neighbouring farm. He represents Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in general.[8] He buys wood from the animals for forged money and later attacks them, destroying the windmill but being finally beaten in the resulting Battle of the Windmill (World War II), which could be interpreted as either the battle of Moscow or Stalingrad. There are also stories of him mistreating his own animals, such as throwing dogs into a furnace, which may also represent the Nazi Party's treatment of political dissidents.

Mr. Pilkington - The easy-going but crafty owner of Foxwood, a neighbouring farm overgrown with weeds, as described in the book. He represents the western powers, such as the United Kingdom and the United States. The card game at the very end of the novel is a metaphor for the Tehran Conference, where the parties flatter each other, all the while cheating at the game. This last scene is ironic because all the Pigs are civil and kind to the humans, defying all for which they had fought. This happened at the Tehran Conference: the Soviet Union formed an alliance with the United States and the United Kingdom, capitalist countries that the Soviet Union had fought in the early years of the revolution.[8] At the end of the game, both Napoleon and Pilkington draw the Ace of Spades and then begin fighting loudly, symbolising the beginning of tension between the U.S. and Soviet superpowers.

Mr. Whymper - A man hired by Napoleon for public relations of Animal Farm to human society. He is loosely based on Western intellectuals such as George Bernard Shaw and, especially, Lincoln Steffens, who visited the USSR in 1919.

And these are not all. It's late now, and one must retire fo the oncoming day. I will continue this post the next moment I have the chance to do so.

Animal Farm is indeed a excellent book, giving you a lot of complicated thought, of the irony, of the conformity, of how the book describes the world happening then, of the corruption of the USSR itself. It is definetely a book worth reading, but only if you have the right mind to enjoy it, of course.

Wow. W-O-W.

Hihi,

Just finished reading Ms (Susan) Soh's academic blog. I particularly appreciate Ms Soh's post on her personal experiences in *cough* suicides and thoughts about suicide.

Ms Soh does have a point. Her last paragraph has a great sentimental value. We are important in our own way. I can never imagine my life without meeting my friends, new and old. We leave our marks on their lives. They leave their marks on ours. We will forever share a relationship with each other. A bond made between friends.

It's actually pretty hard to bring yourself to express so much about your personal life to outsiders, a courage many (including me) do not have. Many of us just bottle up our feelings, but one day, that particular bottle will implode from the tremendous stress. The consequences might be dire. One word - Suicide.

It's actually quite easy to pour out the contents from that bottle, to start anew. Make friends. Make friends that will listen. Listen to your everyday ranting without a single sound. Friends that would understand. true friends.

I believe I have friends that are true to me. They listened when I was being overwhelmed. They lent a shoulder when i wanted to cry. They helped me survive. They are one of the factors that keep me driving on. Thank you. Thank you all. =)

Why, oh why, do you think about suicide? You might think suicide is a way of ending everything, but is it really a way to do so? In fact, it will just cause more grief to the world. Grief to your family, and grief to your friends. Even teachers.

A person you meet in everyday life each has thier own value, each contributes to society, in thier own way. They aren't just another person in the world that is queueing up to buy kway chap, but an individual. A individual thinker, an individual learner, an individual personality.

It is in fact quite hard to express what I am trying to say, the convey my message, but to put it in layman's terms, one should always appreciate another. They are the things that have an impact on your lives, in their small, but significant way.

You have only one life to live by. Cherish it. Live your life to the fullest you can.

~Markie