I know on the last blog I mentioned that we would be discussing euphemisms on Friday and then we spent the entire time on allegories. It was a good decision because I do think we left with a solid understanding of what an allegory is (as well as what allegorical figures are), and it is important to understand because Animal Farm--our next book--is an allegory about the Russian Revolution. I'm sure you don't know much about the Russian Revolution, and I will be sharing information about it with you tomorrow (and who knows, maybe some euphemisms), but the neat/amazing/super cool thing about allegories is their flexibility, or, shall I say, their adaptability. Yes, adaptability is the better choice here. Just like we discovered when we were looking at the movie Avatar and its allegorical connection to the way the early settlers treated the Native Americans, the allegory also has present day applications. So while we'll look at George Orwell's original intent with his allegorical story, we'll also be trying to see its application to our modern world. In addition, I'll be asking you to consider an overarching question for our Animal Farm study.
How can an author's use of allegory promote social change?
On a lesser note, I'll want you to consider:
How can an author's personal experiences influence his/her work?
To help us in our continued comprehension of allegories, I'm going to ask you to do a little writing--of course--on the topic. If you recall, we mentioned "Little Red Riding Hood", among other fairy tales, in class last Friday and briefly discussed its potential allegorical intent. I'll be asking you to revisit other fairy tales this week and dissect them for the same purpose. I'll explain more tomorrow, but be thinking about your favorite classic tales.
I read all your timed writings and you'll be receiving them tomorrow. A TREMENDOUS shout out goes to Katelyn Hestad for her splendidly written analysis of why Jonas was not a hero. Bravo! Yet it seems some of us still need to work on the depth of our development. Too often we settled for one example when two or three or more were clearly available. Too often we settled for topical explanations instead of insightful discussions. Too often we settled for long, monster quotes, instead of brief, effective ones. Good writing is not easy, but we'll get there.
See you soon.
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