ANIMAL FARM

5/23/2019

Today, the class took a trip to Granville Island to watch Animal Farm being performed at the Waterfront Theatre! After this, we went to the market, had some snacks, had some fun at a water park, and then took a long walk along the seawall on our way back. It was a great day, filled with sun, stories, and adventure!

1.) Book Club:

All students should be up to date with their group schedule, and be ready to start writing their powerful responses next week!

2.) Socials:

Continue to work on your inquiries, and think about how you can start shaping your projects around your questions.

3.) P.A.R.:

Today we had a wonderful day in the sun, and a great showing of Animal Farm:
- In a short paragraph, tell us, what do you think the Big Idea of Animal Farm is?
- There are many lessons that we can learn from this play, what is one lesson that stuck with you after seeing it?
- Be sure to respond to your peers with your thoughts and descriptive feedback. Help them improve their posts with any corrections to grammar, spelling, sentence structure, punctuation, etc.

Video Links:
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Vincent

5/23/2019 06:06:24 pm

first

Emily

5/23/2019 06:31:33 pm

Second

Emily

5/23/2019 09:11:56 pm

Today we watched a play called Animal Farm. This play starts off with farm animals plotting to overthrow the farmer Mr. Jones. They succeed with this plan and rule the farm on their own terms. Initially, all the animals were equal. But as the years went by this one power hungry pig Napoleon started manipulating the rest of the animals on the farm. Soon enough, Napoleon and Squealer (the second in command) end up just like Mr. Jones.

I think that the big idea of Animal Farm is about collaboration. You need to work together peacefully in order to succeed but clearly, that didn’t happen in Animal Farm. There were many lessons in Animal Farm but the one that stuck with me is that if you don’t like the way something is, you go ahead and change it. Just like what the animals did to Mr. Jones.

Adrian

5/23/2019 06:48:33 pm

What a beautiful sunny day. The geese were like telling us the sun shined was warm, and the weather is incredibly wonderful. The Animal Farm, the great drama from the Waterfront Theatre. The seniors of the art school club did a really great performance today and they deserved the appreciation from us. Actually, I didn’t really think of the big idea of the play because sadly it’s not a happy ending story. However, I have still thought of the big idea when it’s the question period. The instructor of the whole senior teenagers explained to us, that the deep idea or meaning will be in your thoughts of what you basically see and connect to your life, it depends to everyone and they might have different thoughts. But, what I think is the idea of Animal Farm is telling us about changes through time and the society and community in the century now days. According to Animal Farm history, it was published in 1945 in England, and at that time political instability is common. And it also makes me think of corruption and leadership. Clearly, corruptions are pretty visible in Animal Farm of how the two groups fighting Snowball, and Napoleon. This drama shows how the community and political works in those days, of full chaos and corruption, full of lies and violence. And how leadership changed the whole life from before to present. However, I still have one point I don’t understand is, was the political in those days that terrifying me, chaos and corruptions are everywhere, or just that is not what the drama actual means. The deepen meaning is hidden behind the scene but was written in the history.

Mr. Wilson

5/24/2019 10:09:22 am

Hi Adrian. I think you are asking if the corruption depicted in the play was only meant to describe the politics of the time the play was written in 1945 or is the corruption depicted in the play meant to describe all politics regardless of the time period. Correct me if I am not understanding your question.

The author of the play intended to make a statement about communism in Russia. Russia adopted communism in 1917 and then China also became a communist country in 1945. Communism is a form of government where there is no private property. All property and business is owned by the government. Theoretically, how it is supposed to work is that everything that is produced is shared equally. Let's say for example you, Wendy and Ben all had apple farms. You grew 10 apples, Wendy grew 5 apples and Ben grew 15 apples. The government would take all 30 apples and give each of you 10. But what happens in communist countries is that some of the leaders don't play by the rules and they secretly keep more apples for themselves. In the play, the pigs represent the communist leaders. The pigs lead all of the animals to overthrow the humans who are perceived as selfish and not fair. At first, the pigs make sure the communist ideals are upheld and "all animals are equal." But slowly during the course of the play, the pigs start to think and act that they are better than the other animals and start to bend the rules of communism to favour themselves as pigs.

So while the author intended the play to represent communism at that time, the ideas in play can certainly be applied to today. For example, does Donald Trump make decisions for all Americans or does he favour some Americans over others> Does Xi Jinping make decisions for all Chinese or do some Chinese get special treatment over other Chinese?

Thanks for your question.

Zarif

5/23/2019 07:20:16 pm

Why do animals act like humans?Well,they do have feelings too.Mind you what we had watched was entertaining.
What I thought of the big idea and story was that I wish that all the animals can talk. In that play I slowly realized that the pig and the other black leader (I didn't know what the name was), also was slowly breaking and changing the rules. I felt like some of the animal leaders slowly changed their minds about anything and not being cooperative.
In conclusion, animals are like humans who have a mind of their own. A character you coudn't change overtime.

Max

5/23/2019 07:36:42 pm

Max

5/23/2019 08:47:38 pm

Animal Farm written by George Orwell is an intriguing story which portrays a communist government. It was published in England in 1945, just after Joseph Stalin came into power of the Soviet Union, formerly the USSR. In that time political instability was extremely common, and there were many communist countries parties, such as the USSR, Communist China and the CCP. These were the most known communist organizations.

Animal Farm portrays the events leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917. The Russian Revolution was a revolution which took place in the USSR (Soviet Russia) during 1917, dismantling the Tsarist autocracy. The March revolution led to the downfall of the Russian Empire and the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II. The October revolution focused on toppling the Provisional Government and as a result the Soviets achieved and autocracy. It also foresaw the slaughter of the Romanov family. Following the two world wars, another was broke out as a result of political upheaval between Soviet Russia and the United States of America. It occurred from 1947 to 1991. It all began when the two former WWII Allies formed a continuous rivalry. Conflict spanned from subtle espionage in the biggest cities of the world to violent combat in the tropical jungles of Vietnam, where the United States lost. The Cold War ranged from nuclear submarines gliding noiselessly through the depths of the oceans to the most technologically-advanced satellites in geosynchronous orbits in space. The political and cultural war waged by Communists and Capitalists was a colossal confrontation on a scale never before seen in human history.

These major historical events are similar to the ones depicted in Animal Farm. George Orwell first portrays a cruel farmer by the name of Jones who malnourished and neglects his animals. Then the animals begin plotting revenge and decide to start a rebellion. They chase Jones and his men out of the farm. Then, they began to form a system of government with the pigs ruling as dictators. After a long period of peace and harmony, war breaks out between Snowball and Napoleon. Snowball is accused of allying with Jones at the battle of the Cowshed and the battle of the Windmill, and is slaughtered by Napoleon. This act results in an autocracy with total control by Napoleon. Napoleon is also a dishonest leader who uses the benefits of totalitarianism for his own greed, and he sides with the humans also.

In conclusion the main idea is that Animal Farm is the 1917 Russian Revolution and Cold War in a nutshell, and that humanity can be very corrupted. Power hungry leaders will desire more and more authority until monocracy results, and political power and status are seen as very important, which is why rebellions, revolutions, and protests occur. In other words, don’t be a Napoleon.

Justin

5/23/2019 09:06:11 pm

@ Max - Excellent job! I really liked how detailed and elaborate you are with your work and writing. Here are a few improvements to make your post even better:
- be careful of run-on sentences (like the one in your last paragraph).
- commas after transition words

Ariel

5/23/2019 07:44:53 pm

Today we went to the Waterfront Theater to watch the play, Animal farm.
The play, Animal farm is about leadership, deception, lies and corruption. It illustrates the history of the russian revolution by retelling the development of communism.
The group of animals take control of the farm they live on and kick out their master, Jones. Once he’s gone, life on the farm is good for a while and there's hope for better future of less work, better education and more food. However, in the end Napoleon, the pig takes all the power by force and ends up taking advantage of the other animals like how Jones had done in the beginning. It ends with the pigs acting and even dressing like the humnas the animals tried to get rid of in the first place.
I think that the big idea was how humans act in society, how corrupt leaders can take advantage of an entire population and how power can often lead to corruption and oppression.

Max

5/23/2019 08:19:28 pm

@Arie:l Noice Big Idea and don't forget to Capital F for Animal Farm. PS: you spelt humans wrong

Mr. Wilson

5/24/2019 10:13:32 am

Excellent summary, Ariel. There is a saying in history, "Power corrupts absolutely."

Anita

5/23/2019 08:02:53 pm

Today, during the nice and beautiful weather, div.1 and 2 went to Grand I’ll Island. In the way of getting there, we watched a theatre called animals farm, performed by the senior art school. The art school did a great job to explain what they want to express about, and what’s the meaning of performance this show.

Animals farm was a story from England, it published during the 1945. Animals farm is written by Gorge Orwell. This theatre is really good.

In my opinion, the big idea of this show shows how much important is power back in the history of England. According to the story, the master of this animals farm is not nice. However, the pig(master) don’t have to work hard in the farm, and they get to change the rules whenever they wanted to, which is not fair, but they have power, no one can have any query of they are doing, otherwise, they will kill you. Anyways, the ending is not very happy. At the end, Napoleon get the power, unfortunately, she’s not nice, she used violence to make the animals listen to her. Consequently, it also tells us that we shouldn’t use some mean stuff to make other people listen to you, we have to use our brain to make other people want to listen to you.

Overall, this is my understanding of this theatre.

Mr. Wilson

5/24/2019 10:17:29 am

Tis most true--earning people's trust and loyalty through kindness is lasting while forcing people's trust and loyalty through fear is temporary.

harmon

5/23/2019 08:07:32 pm

The big idea of the play is don't crave power.

Mr. Wilson

5/24/2019 10:14:57 am

Harmon, that is definitely the root of the big idea of the play.

Unaid

5/23/2019 08:32:59 pm

Today, our two grade seven classes went on a field trip to Granville Island. We came to go see a show known as Animal farm. It was a show where animals were given human sentience, they rebelled against their master. They transform the old farm, naming it "Animal Farm", it was known as the only farm run by animals entirely. The pigs were their leaders, since they were considered the smartest. At one point the pigs became dictators, and they began to break the rules that they established. It ends in the pigs becoming bipedal and sharing a toast with other abusive farms.

Once the show had ended, someone had asked what the message was about the play, all the actors shared their different opinions, but most of them had mentioned laws and communism. This interested me, as I saw this world with dictators. When I thought about it more, I agreed less and less with the idea of communism and law. In my opinion, I think this play was about selfishness, and growth. As the Animal Farm had grown, the pigs became more and more human, and the rules became more and more strict. By the end of the play, the pigs had become equal to that of the humans. This showed a progression, as once new rules were invented, some rules were broken by the pigs to become more like humans.

I personally did not find a general value in this play, other than sheer entertainment. However, the big message is good for allowing people to understand what could happen if they become to comfortable with their power. Power to me is a double edged blade, you have the ability to change the world around you, but you could become corrupt and become an unforgivable dictator. A good lesson to learn is to avoid the overuse of leadership, only do what you must, only do what is best for others.

Animal Farm was a very enjoyable play, It had digestible storytelling, and the actors had done a wonderful job portraying the emotions and character when the time was right. This play has gotten me interested in the book, and I plan on looking more into it in the near future.

Max

5/23/2019 08:50:42 pm

@Ooned/Dianu/Unid/Unaid: There is Quality and Quantity in you PAR. GJ!
BTW:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vlhYqLK_gO_X5WpcYA4x5GyASrdfQYJQnVg5gz7lUlw/edit?usp=sharing

Mr. Wilson

5/24/2019 10:18:48 am

Run for Prime Minister please!

Wendy

5/23/2019 08:47:33 pm

Today, the two classes went on a field trip to Granville Island to watch this wonderful play called Animal Farm being performed at the Waterfront Theatre.

Based on my understanding of the story, I think the big idea of the Animal Farm was about rights and equality. In the story, the owner of the farm did not trade animals properly. Which might sound a little bit hurtful, even nowadays, this happens. Have you noticed the leader of this animals discussion keeps on emphasizing how animals should trade one another equally? From now on, this could be something for us to work on. In any situations, we should be kind, for everything is fighting a hard battle.

Justin

5/23/2019 08:58:22 pm

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” - Lord Acton
Today, Division 2 and 1 were lucky to be able to go on a field trip to watch “Animal Farm”, presented at the Waterfront Theatre. Animal farm, originally a book made by George Orwell, present an important message to both the history of the past and to what lies ahead of us. It teaches us how power can corrupt leaders and how it can really change someone completely. As a leader might not begin to have the intentions of doing something bad, it doesn’t mean they won’t end up having them.

From “all animals are equal” to “all animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others”, the audience can really see how selfish Napoleon becomes throughout the play. In the start, Napoleon is the same as everyone else, wanting freedom and equality in animals. Gradually as he gains more power over everything, he starts to turn against what he was told by the Old Major. He starts changing the rules everyone has once set on to something benefits him the most. He starts to then force all the animals (all except the pigs) to work for him. The animals, finally realizing what they are trapped in, understands that Napoleon has become an enemy like (if not worse) than Farmer Jones. George Orwell wrote this book in 1945 based on the Russian Revolution and the communism. He wanted to show us what happened in the history, so we would be aware for the future. In this modern world, full of politics, we have to be careful of everything we hear and watch, including the things in which we think we “know” already. The government can simply alter the information we get to persuade us, like how Squealer did to the animals.

To summarize, this is what I think the message of “Animal Farm” is. I am glad that I got to watch this play because these are problems I have never paid attention to.

Mr. Wilson

5/24/2019 10:20:54 am

Professor Justin--this is a perfect summary meaning of the play written in clear language. Well done.

PKM

5/23/2019 09:06:51 pm

Oh a wonderful sunny day. The sun is shining bright in the sky. The waterfront theatre was where we were to watch the play called Animal Farm. The play about lies, leadership, corruption, being untruthful. The big idea is don’t do bad things to get power. The animal’s history is about the Russian Revolution. The animal farm the animals were tortured by their master Jones. After the rebellion between the humans and animals, the pigs were in charge and the two pigs were in debate. Their names were Snowball and Napoleon. At the end, Napoleon control the farm animals and take the power just like Jones did. In conclusion, I didn’t like the hurtful parts of the play.

Olivia

5/23/2019 10:41:47 pm

Wee! Another field trip. Today, we went to Granville Island to see a show called animals farm, performed by the senior performer named art umbrella. The art school did a great job on explain what they want to show us about, and what’s the meaning behind the story. Animals farm was an allegorical novella by George Orwell, first published in England on 17 August 1945
I think that for the big idea of animal fro, the big idea of this show is about Leadership and corruption, control of naive working people, lies and deception, and dreams and hopes. According to the show and the book I read the first master of this farm is not nice but sensible. He at least feed the animal enough and didn’t over work them. One the outer hand, the second master the pig are mean and not seanserble. They don’t have to work hard in the farm, and they change the rules whenever they wanted to. Also they overwork the poor naive animal flow the have, and feed them less, which is clearly not fair. One time one of the pig Snowball try to change it back but fail and who know what have happen to her. So soon the pig has all the power, the animal try to fight back, but the pig are too strong. Soon after that no animal can have any question about what the pig are doing. Or else, say goodbye to earth( which I think is way better than what the animal are went through right now. Anyways, this is a book without good end.At the end the animal from the animal farm can not even figure what is the difference between pig and the man they hate.

Ben

5/23/2019 11:25:59 pm

Today we went to Granville island and we went and watched a show that’s called “ Animal Farm “ that took about an hour to finish. I think the big idea for this how we should treat animals like humans and I guess to be aware of other living creatures. At the show it was also a pretty good show and long but overall it was good and seen one of those shows before. The thing that reminds me of this show is called “ Peter Pan “ because it’s a show and Peter Pan is also a show. My favourite part in that show was the battles because I like history and watching history.

Mr. Wilson

5/24/2019 10:23:09 am

For sure Ben, one of the themes is "treat others as you wish to be treated."

Miranda

5/24/2019 12:06:44 am

Have you ever noticed that one little thing turns bigger and bigger until it can't be contained any longer? Well, in Animal Farm, the play we saw today, this is one of the things that is seen.

You may be asking, what is Animal Farm? It's a novel by George Orwell that was written in the 40s or 50s. This book makes quite an impact on our view of the world because of how much it relates to life back then. As a brief summary, there was a boar named Old Major who believed in a rebellion by animals to take down humanity because of how much they were mistreated. The pigs take more power, there are battles that were fought, and a lot more violence happening later on. Overall, the rebellion died down and was twisted into the rising of the pigs, and so much about those pigs have changed into humans that they cannot be told apart anymore. Throughout the show that we saw today, I can pick out various meanings and lessons.

First of all, there were lessons like corruption of socialist ideals in the Soviet Union, dangers of having a naive working class, and others. However, one lesson that stuck to me was how we saw that the abuse of language (changing Animalism rules) was a build-up to the abuse of power. First of all, Squealer kept on changing the rules of Animalism to match Napoleon's actions, making the common animals feel confused and nervous. It also made everything corrupted, as the rules are now changed negatively. Only because Napoleon had the power to do this did he gain even more power. Secondly, the pigs changed and bended Old Major's words into something much more dark and destructive. By doing this, the pigs also gain more power.

In my opinion, I think that the big idea of Animal Farm is that we should always try to think of consequences and stay on task when doing anything. Never become depraved by power as it only creates something worse than what you originally wanted (as you can also see from real life). Therefore, this story is actually very important to analyze and see where we should do something to change ourselves as well.

In conclusion, Animal Farm was a unique and enjoyable story that we were lucky to hear/watch. By listening to this particular play we were able to use reading strategies and also pick apart one meaning in life that we probably haven't considered before.

Mr. Wilson

5/24/2019 10:24:58 am

I like your sentence "we should always try to think of consequences and stay on task."

shannon

5/24/2019 07:12:37 am

Today, our classes went to Granville Island to watch Animal Farm. I found this play very intriguing. Animal Farm was originally written by George Orwell, published in England on August 17, 1945. Animal Farm was supposedly about events leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917. Basically, the plot of the story is the animals decide to rebel against their master. Therefore leaving them in charge of the farm. The pigs seemed to be the most intelligent so all the decision were up to them. The pigs took advantage of their power and other animals. The pigs slowly turned into dictators of the farm. I think the big idea of this play is “collaboration over the competition”. all the animals cooperated together to fight against the farmers. They worked together on several occasions and they always succeeded with their task. I also think the big idea is that it's better to have an enemy who slaps you in the face rather than a friend who stabs you in the back. I feel like the farm would be better off with Jones around. The animals would feel safer and less stressed. When the rebellion took place, the animals trusted the pigs to take over and run all the decision making. The pigs decided to take advantage of this and use others to make money for themselves. In conclusion, Animal Farm was a very deep play and I could make many meanings out of it, but this one is the one that stuck most.

Breanna

5/24/2019 08:09:02 am

Yesterday our class went to see a play called “animal farm.” It showed how humans can overtake other animals. This shows animal cruelty and how much we can impact an animal. In the play the animals were shown happy at first, but then when Napoleon took over after killing snowball everything changed. They slowly started changing the rules, and at the end the pigs and other animals could walk, showing that they were turning into humans. They didn’t treat anyone fairly and it ended with the bad people winning. I enjoyed that because stories always end with everyone winning but the bad people. This shows that not everyone can win in life, and you can get treated unfairly.

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ANIMAL FARM

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