2/27/20 Michelle Zhang PD 5

FEBRUARY 27, 2020

MICHELLE ZHANG

PERIOD 6 

SOPHOMORES 2020

AIM:

How does Orwell criticize society through Boxer and Benjamin?

DO NOW:

With a partner, discuss and write about two images. Consider the message, the audience, the perspective, the bias and the persuasive technique.

A Pork Chop

The Message: Become a vegan to save animals

The Audience: Everyone, Specifically those who are meat eaters

The Perspective: Of someone who is a vegan

The Bias: Trying to convince people to become vegan because they think that it will help save the lives of animals

Persuasive Techniques: Pathos 

Are you pouring on the pounds?

The Message: To cut back on drinking sugary beverages and stick to drinking water

The Audience: Everyone, the general public 

The Perspective: Medical professionals that know the affects of sugary drinks

The Bias: Trying to convince people to stop drinking sugary beverages because they think that it will cause you to gain weight 

Persuasive Techniques: Ethos

What Would You Do?

You’re in class and your friends start checking their phones and laughing. Soon, your phone goes off as well. You receive a text message of a picture of a girl who is in your grade turned into a really nasty meme making fun of her. The girl is currently in class with you, you watch her check her phone, her eyes turn red, and she asks the teacher to use the pass.

Whole Class Discussion:

Richard Wright argues that “All literature is protest. you can’t name a single novel that isn’t protest.”

Your thoughts? Ideas? Options? Feel free to integrate your own knowledge as well as Animal Farm into your commentary.

GROUP WORK:

The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.” - George Orwell

-What are the themes elicited from George Orwell’s Animal Farm?

-Watch the two videos posted in the syllabus about “Thorny Situations.”

-What relatable issues do you see in your own worked compared to the novel? How would George Orwell want to inspire your generation?

-What is one thing you could do this week?

REFLECTION:

Today I learned how different messages can be shown through images and advertisements. Each ad is designed by those who have a certain perspective or bias that they want to convince people t believe. They can use the three rules of persuasive techniques: ethos, logos, and pathos to help them make their message stronger. We also dig deeper and discovered that as humans, we usually go along with the crowd and won’t stand up for what we think is right or only will speak up when if solely affects us. Going back to our aim, Orwell uses Boxer and Benjamin to criticize society and human behavior. In Animal Farm, Boxer is a horse who is extremely strong and a hard worker. His devotion in his job may seem like something positive on the outside. However, it also shows that he is just following the ideals of the pigs and doesn’t have independent thinking. We can see this because his two mottos are “I will work harder” and “Napoleon” is always right. Orwell uses Boxer to show that humans have the tendency to just follow what everyone else is doing and not even question it. Benjamin is a donkey who is extremely wise and knows what is really going on. He even knows how to read just like the pigs. However, he doesn’t express the desire of opposing the pigs probably because he is scared. He does eventually speak up when his best friend Boxer was sent off the be slaughter. Orwell uses Benjamin to show that humans have powers that we misuse by not using it in order to benefit others but only ourselves. This was an important lesson because it showed us how Orwell used characters to resemble real life people. This makes us aware of the fault in our society and can even make us want to stand up for something we truly believe in even though others won’t agree with us. We can further apply what we learned today and try not to turn a blind eye when we see injustice.