Animal Farm Revisted

Like so many others, I first encountered George Orwell's amazing Animal Farm when I was in junior high.  I loved it and appreciated its message at a pretty good level.  I had a good teacher (Mr. Melcher) at the time, so he helped make sure I explored both the historical context and the thematic importance of the novel.

Unknown, http://bit.ly/1aSitZm

I recently decided to read the novel again both because some of my students are reading it and because I find the idea of authority to be particularly relevant today.   Rereading it as a teacher is fascinating on many levels.

At my grade level, the book isn't a great choice for a whole class novel, but it worked as book club choice for some of my more sophisticated readers.  The drawback to book clubs, of course, is that students don't get to explore a novel quite so deeply because the teacher is working with multiple groups and multiple books.  As I rotated through book club groups, I wanted to be able to jump in with the best possible questions and/or answers about symbolism, theme, and historical representations.

[No offence to Marie Lu, but there isn't quite the same need to be right on top of a book when students are reading Legend.]

That takes care of the professional...

On the personal front, I want to protect the naive Boxers and the idealistic Snowballs of the world.  I wish desperately to counsel them and tell them how they can direct their love of what is right in a direction that will keep dreams of better systems, better ideas, and better people/animals alive.  Not only do they need defending from the Napoleons of the world, but also from those who surround the Napoleons and nod in agreement at all they say.

I want to help keep ideals and ideas at the forefront of people's minds - not let them slip into some fuzzy haze so that they can be manipulated and moulded into something that suits the purpose of those in charge; may the beautiful ideal persist.

The Centennial Edition of Animal Farm includes some great essays to preface the book.  Among them, Russell Baker's stood out for its reminder that Orwell's work was frowned upon for its criticism of Stalin and the Soviet Union.  At the time, both had many friends in the West; Orwell's narrative apparently did not sit well with many of his peers on the left.  As Baker points out, Orwell was the type "that real politicians detest" because he could not "bear to let any wrong deed go undenounced"(p. xvi).

Perhaps more than anything, I want to help ensure that there is always a safe place for people like Orwell to shine a great light upon power misused and ideals abused.  As a person and as a teacher, can I do anything more important?