...Animal Farm An Allegory of the French Revolution By Travis Booker English 1302 Mrs. Simpson April 18, 2012 What is an allegory? Allegory is a device used to present an idea, principle, or meaning, which can be presented in literary form, such as a poem or novel, in musical form, such as composition or lyric, or in visual form, such as in painting or drawing. It is also seen in scriptural passage. Allegory communicates its message by means of symbolic figures, actions, or symbolic representation. Allegory is generally treated as a figure of rhetoric; a rhetorical allegory is a demonstrative form of representation conveying meaning other than the words that are spoken. As a literary device, an allegory in its most general sense is an extended metaphor. As an artistic device, an allegory is a visual symbolic representation. An example of a simple visual allegory is the image of the grim reaper. Viewers understand that the image of the grim reaper is a symbolic representation of death (Kennedy 142). During a time when there was much change and the spirit of rebellion was all around, Animal Farm was written by George Orwell. George Orwell used allegory in his novel Animal Farm to parallel the Russian Revolution and resulting totalitarian regime to the revolutions of the animals and the pigs' corruption of absolute power. The novel's characters, events, and corruption of ideas paralleled the pattern that took place among the Russians during and following the...
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...Summary: Book VII, 514a- 521d In Book VII, Socrates presents the most beautiful and famous metaphor in Western philosophy: the allegory of the cave. This metaphor is meant to illustrate the effects of education on the human soul. Education moves the philosopher through the stages on the divided line, and ultimately brings him to the Form of the Good. Socrates describes a dark scene. A group of people have lived in a deep cave since birth, never seeing the light of day. These people are bound so that they cannot look to either side or behind them, but only straight ahead. Behind them is a fire, and behind the fire is a partial wall. On top of the wall are various statues, which are manipulated by another group of people, lying out of sight behind the partial wall. Because of the fire, the statues cast shadows across the wall that the prisoners are facing. The prisoners watch the stories that these shadows play out, and because these shadows are all they ever get to see, they believe them to be the most real things in the world. When they talk to one another about “men,” “women,” “trees,” or “horses,” they are referring to these shadows. These prisoners represent the lowest stage on the line—imagination. A prisoner is freed from his bonds, and is forced to look at the fire and at the statues themselves. After an initial period of pain and confusion because of direct exposure of his eyes to the light of the fire, the prisoner realizes that what he sees now are things more real than...
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...write on the theme of death. Dickenson’s life was filled with multiple tragic deaths, which caused her to spend half of her life in sorrow. She experienced many deaths of people close to her, in which influenced her writing as a major reoccurring theme. Although Emily Dickinson wrote about death, she often times wrote about it in very odd ways such as death being eternal but also death as a state of life and this can be seen in her poems, “Because I could not stop for Death”, “I heard a Fly buzz”, and “I died for Beauty. Emily Dickinson writes the majority of her poetry during a period of stress because of the Civil War, which also influenced the depressing yet unique way of her poems. Her poem, “Because I could not stop for Death”, is an ironic allegory in which death is portrayed as a gentleman. In the first line she writes, “Because I could not stop for death/ He kindly stopped for me” (1-2) meaning that she is coming to meet death on his own terms. Usually death is shown as being unavoidable and all around evil, but Dickinson describes her carriage ride as, “I had put away/ My labor and my leisure too/ For His Civility,” (6-8). She describes death as being civil meaning that death was courteous and polite. The way that Dickinson capitalizes “His” gives that line a possible religious context as well because when writing about God, His name is always capitalized. The next line speaks of the many things she passes while riding in the carriage with death. “We passed the Fields...
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...The Inevitability of the Red Death Edgar Allen Poe's “The Masque of the Red Death” is an extravagant allegory of the futility of trying to escape death. In the story, a prince named Prospero tries to avoid the Red Death through isolation and seclusion. He hides behind the impenetrable walls of his castle and turns his back on the rest of the world. But no walls can stop death because it is unavoidable and inevitable. Through the use of character, setting, point of view, and symbol, Poe reveals the theme that no one, regardless of status, wealth or power can stay the passing of time and the inevitable conclusion of life itself, death. Like many of Poe’s works, the number of characters in “Masque of the Red Death” is limited; however they all work to reveal the theme. Only three characters, Prince Prospero, the Thousand Friends and the Masked Figure are mentioned. The central figure of the story is Prince Prospero. The author describes him as “happy and dauntless and sagacious” (Poe, 386). His name is used to infer royalty, wealth and happiness, and suggests that the prince is untroubled by the plague and is confident of his survival and the survival of his one thousand friends. Prospero has been described by scholars as a “feelingless ruling prince” (Wheat, 51). This is due to his apparent lack of concern for the people of his land: “The external world could take care of itself” (Poe, 386). Prospero is a flat character as he remains confident in his survival up to...
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... Author Background Naguib Mahfouz started writing when he was seventeen years old and is now respected throughout Arabic writing. Such as novels “The Children of Gebelawi (1959), Small Talk on the Nile (1966), and Miramar (1967). He often uses allegory and symbolism in his stories to address concerns. Mahfouz won the Noble Prize for literature in 1988. (Born Cairo, Egypt 1911) Plot Summary “The Happy Man” is a about a man who wakes up one morning and finds himself “inconceivably happy”. He has no idea why or how this happened and is shocked because of how he usually feels when he wakes up in the mornings. “This was distinctly peculiar when compared with the state he was usually in when he woke up” (pg. 235) He finds himself talking to people he generally never talks to such as his servant “Uncle” Bashir. He then finds himself talking to his worst rival who he has constant conflicts with. He addresses and talks to him though as if they were best friends. “Good Morning! He said without feeling any compunction.” (pg.237) His rival is shocked by how much different the man has changed and asks if his son has returned from Canada. “I bet your dear son has changed his mind about staying in Canada?! He asked…But that was the principle reason for being so sad.” (pg.237) We then learn that his wife had passed and the thought of her makes him laugh. This leads the reader to believe that the happy man was grieving for the loss...
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...Submitted by: the 4th year student Paşcaneanu Mariana Group 404 Scientific adviser: Tataru Nina Senior Lecturer Chişinău 2012 Contents INTRODUCTION 2 CHAPTER I: SHORT STORY AS A FORM OF FICTION 5 I.1.Common Characteristics of a Short Story as a Form of Fiction. Its Plot and Structure. 5 I.2. Figurative Language. Definition. Function. 9 I.3. Imagery – Language that Appeals to the Senses 11 I.3.1. Simile, Metaphor and Personification. 13 1.3.2. Symbol and Symbolism. 26 I.3.3 Allegory. 30 CHAPTER II: LANGUAGE SHAPED BY IMAGINATION IN K. MANSFIELD’S SHORT STORIES 36 II.1. Figurative Language, Symbolism and Theme in "Her First Ball": 37 II.2. Katherine Mansfield – Techniques and Effects in A Cup of Tea. 41 II.3. Literary Colloquial Style in “Miss Brill” by K. Mansfield. 49 II.3.1. Lexical features—Vague Words and Expressions 49 II.3.2 Syntactical and Morphological Features 52 II.3.3 Phonological Schemes of the Figures of Speech 55 II.4. Simplifying Figurative Language in K.Mansfield’s Short Stories 60 CONCLUSION 64 BIBLIOGRAPHY 66 APPENDIX 70 INTRODUCTION Figurative Language is the use of words that go beyond their ordinary meaning. It requires you to use your imagination to figure out the author's meaning. For example, if someone tells you that it is raining cats and dogs, you know that there are not actually cats and dogs falling from the sky. You know it really means that it is raining very...
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...Catanduanes State Colleges College of Health Sciences Department of Nursing Virac, Catanduanes Reaction Paper A Rose for Emily Submitted by: Sheila Mae T. Tapar BSN 3A Submitted to: Mrs. Victoria Gianan Professor I. Summary/Synopsis A Rose for Emily" is a short story by American author William Faulkner first published in the April 30, 1930 issue of Forum. This story takes place in Faulkner's fictional city, Jefferson, Mississippi, in the fictional county of Yoknapatawpha County. It was Faulkner's first short story published in a national magazine. Faulkner explained the reason for his choice of the title as: [The title] was an allegorical title; the meaning was, here was a woman who has had a tragedy, an irrevocable tragedy and nothing could be done about it, and I pitied her and this was a salute ... to a woman you would hand a rose. The story is told in nonlinear narrative and begins at the huge funeral for Miss Emily Grierson. Nobody has been to her house in ten years, except for her black servant. Her house is old, but was once the best house around. The town had a special relationship with Miss Emily ever since it decided to stop billing her for taxes in 1894. But, the "newer generation" wasn't happy with this arrangement, and so they paid a visit to Miss Emily and tried to get her to pay the debt. She refused to acknowledge that the old arrangement might not work anymore, and flatly refused to pay. Thirty years before, the tax collecting townspeople...
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...Britannica for more on the tale's publication history). As a side note – Jackson based "The Lottery" on her life in North Bennington, Vermont (source). Some of us here at Shmoop happen to be from that fine state, and we'd like to assure all potential tourists that despite what you may read in "The Lottery," you don't have to worry about sudden stoning in the Green Mountain State. Anyway, back to the matter at hand. The anonymous, generic village in which "The Lottery" is set, in addition to the vicious twist the story gives to a common American ritual, enhance the contemporary reader's uneasy sense that the group violence in the story could be taking place anywhere and everywhere, right now. Jackson's skillful warping of a popular pastime has become an American classic, establishing her position as one of the great American horror writers. Why Should I Care? So, if you've ever been hanging out with a group of friends and done something truly stupid, you may have heard the refrain, "If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you jump, too?" Your answer is probably "no," but Shirley Jackson disagrees. She thinks you – and anyone and everyone – would race off that bridge if your community decided it was necessary. According to her, while individuals may be great, a group of people is another animal. An animal that eats its own. "The Lottery" is a story of a small town basically devouring a member of its own community. It's one of the most horrifying texts you'll encounter, in high...
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...regards to raising guardians, because he believed it caused them to fear of death, which is a form of cowardice. If this fear can take a foot hold in a guardian, he/she will not be able to function well, an as a result, not do their duties to the best of their abilities. For example, in book 3 of the Republic, he converses with Ademantus about redacting or outright banning some epics and mythos shared during his time because, he feared it would skew the soul of the people in his city due to the introduction and justification of emotions and actions fueled by fear, lust, vanity, recklessness and the like. Socrates specifically said, “You see, everyone will be ready to excuse himself when he is bad, if he has been persuaded that similar things are done an were done by “close descendants of the gods…That is why we must put a stop to such stories; if we do not, they will produce in our young a very casual attitude to evil.” ( (Reeve, C.D.C.) Book III, page 72, 391.5) This application of censorship is especially critical when training the guardians of a city. The guardians are meant to protect and care for the city and its citizens and have the potential of becoming philosopher king is they train long enough and prove themselves worthy...
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...before, but that it could not have been over anything important because he had plenty of money. The old man asks for another brandy and one of the waiters brings it to him. The two waiters discuss their customer further, saying his niece found him hanging himself and cut him down to save his soul, and that without a wife he must be lonely. One of the waiters is younger than his colleague is, and expresses impatience to close up the café and get home to his wife. The other one, a middle-aged man, defends the old man, saying that he stays so late at the café every night because he has no one to go home to. Finally, the young waiter refuses the old man’s order for another drink, and the man pays and leaves. The two waiters close up the café and the middle-aged one again rebukes the other, saying he should have let the old man stay. The middle-aged waiter says he understands the old man’s reluctance to leave, and that he is always hesitant to lock up because someone may “need” the cafe because it is clean, well lighted, and overshadowed by the leaves of trees. The young waiter boasts that he has everything: youth, confidence, and a job. The middle-aged waiter says he and his colleague are indeed different, and that he himself lacks everything but work. The two waiters part and the younger one goes home. The middle-aged waiter goes to a bar and begins a string of introspective musings. He reveals that he is reluctant to close up the café each night because when he is alone he...
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...allusion. The quotes from Shakespeare mingle with numerous references to more modern culture. His style juxtaposes contemporary realistic situations with non-naturalistic theatrical elements. The plays explore lower-middle-class family life in Australia since the Second World War. Humorous sequences are mingled with painful situations often involving illness and death. These themes are always dramatized in the social context. Conflict between generations is a reoccurring them, typically involving the clash between attitudes formed through the Depression and Second World War and the changing values engendered by post-war prosperity. This conflict is more harmoniously resolved in Away than anywhere else. Gow says that the Sydney suburbs and the beaches of northern New South Wales are important settings for his play because that’s where he spent his childhood, and idealized versions of these places are in the background of his imagination. In the plays these settings are transformed into places representing more universal ideas. For example, the beach in Away is an almost abstract place where people can be transformed because they are free of their everyday lives; Gow feels that he is writing for and about his own generation. Themes Australian culture in the 1960s The 1960s were a time of change in all areas of society. During this decade Australia’s support of America’s involvement in the Vietnam War was...
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...EDITION OF GEORGE ORWELL’S ANIMAL FARM By HAZEL K. DAVIS, Federal Hocking High School, Stewart, OH S E R I E S W. GEIGER ELLIS, ED.D., E D I T O R S : UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA, EMERITUS and ARTHEA J. S. REED, PH.D., UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, RETIRED A Teacher’s Guide to the Signet Classic Edition of George Orwell’s Animal Farm 2 INTRODUCTION Animal Farm is an excellent selection for junior and senior high students to study. Although on one level the novel is an allegory of the 1917 Russian Revolution, the story is just as applicable to the latest rebellion against dictators around the world. Young people should be able to recognize similarities between the animal leaders and politicians today. The novel also demonstrates how language can be used to control minds. Since teenagers are the target not only of the educational system itself but also of advertising, the music industry, etc., they should be interested in exploring how language can control thought and behavior. Animal Farm is short and contains few words that will hamper the reader’s understanding. The incidents in the novel allow for much interactive learning, providing opportunities for students to dramatize certain portions, to expand on speeches, and to work out alternative endings. The novel can be taught collaboratively with the history department as an allegory of the Russian Revolution, allowing students to draw parallels between actual events and people and the imaginary...
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...The Death of the Author The Death of the Author Roland Barthes Source: UbuWeb | UbuWeb Papers 1 The Death of the Author In his story Sarrasine, Balzac, speaking of a castrato disguised as a woman, writes this sentence: “It was Woman, with her sudden fears, her irrational whims, her instinctive fears, her unprovoked bravado, her daring and her delicious delicacy of feeling” Who is speaking in this way? Is it the story’s hero, concerned to ignore the castrato concealed beneath the woman? Is it the man Balzac, endowed by his personal experience with a philosophy of Woman? Is it the author Balzac, professing certain “literary” ideas of femininity? Is it universal wisdom? or romantic psychology? It will always be impossible to know, for the good reason that all writing is itself this special voice, consisting of several indiscernible voices, and that literature is precisely the invention of this voice, to which we cannot assign a specific origin: literature is that neuter, that composite, that oblique into which every subject escapes, the trap where all identity is lost, beginning with the very identity of the body that writes. — Probably this has always been the case: once an action is recounted, for intransitive ends, and no longer in order to act directly upon reality — that is, finally external to any function but the very exercise of the symbol — this disjunction occurs, the voice loses its origin, the author enters his own death, writing begins. Nevertheless, the...
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...Approaching the Work Anthology How to compare the poems Meerkat Poetry Meerkat Poetry In section B of your AS exam, you will be asked to write one essay about the poems in the Work anthology. You will be given a choice of two questions. You can compare and contrast at least two poems of your choice, in response to a statement: OR You can compare one named poem and one other of your choice, in response to a statement: All the poems that you choose must come from the Work section of the anthology, which you have studied. How will my response be marked? Your response will be marked for three assessment objectives: AO1: 15 marks: AO2 – 5 marks: AO3 - 20 marks: TASK 1: Understanding how to compare Look carefully at the mark scheme for AO3. In addition to what is noted above, it always states: “In order to meet the AO3 requirement, effective comparison and contrast will need to be demonstrated.” Answer the following questions. 1. How are you asked to show similarities between the poems? 2. How are you asked to show differences? 3. What is meant by “literary” – what might you refer to in a literary response? Sample question with its indicative content from the mark scheme: For 5a: Compare all the way through, all your points should lead to exploring a similarity of a difference Compare all the way through, all your points should lead to exploring a similarity of a difference It’s OK to disagree with the statement in the question It’s OK to disagree with the statement in...
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...had a broader significance. In a group of medieval tales called the Tale of Abraham and Theodore, the rescue of a borrower from the clutches of an usurer was a symbol of man’s redemption.” (Campbell) Antonio helped Bassanio and prevented him from having to borrow money from an usurer, taking his place as the borrower instead. Antonio’s symbolism as Jesus or the perfect lamb is brought to mind. In Judaism a perfect lamb is sacrificed for a sin offering killed to deflect the wrath of God. Antonio is the perfect lamb about to be killed to appease the vengeance of Shylock. In Christianity, Jesus dies in the place of sinners. Antonio—like Jesus—takes the place of Bassanio as the borrower and savior. The fundamental weakness in both of these allegories is that Antonio's character is marred by hatred unlike the lamb (chosen for its purity), and unlike Christ (declared sinless in the New Testament)....
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