Ethan Liang, 3/6/2020, Sophomores 2020, Period 9, Blog #15
AIM: How can we analyze the importance of names, while symbolically analyzing the characters of the novel?
DO NOW:
Why do you believe we devote (give) so much time and place so much importance/emphasis on the names we create for people/children?
The discussion involved multiple reasons why people would spend so much time, effort, and money on creating a good name, but a central, key point was that your name is one of the first things that people learn about you. Your name is what you are identified by and it becomes your identity. You are also associated with things based on your name. Names also represent or have special meanings to people. For example, the name “Sofia” means wisdom. Names aren’t just what people identify you by, they’re also who you are as a person. Names can have value to their parents for example if someone special in the family has a certain name, their children might be named after him/her. Your name will be carried with you from your birth all the way to your death, so a bad name will last a lifetime.
Why do you believe authors take so much time and care in naming their characters in their works of literature?
Oftentimes, names can foreshadow a character’s future. A character’s name usually reflects his/her personality and characteristics. For example, in the Lord of the Flies, Simon is the name of Jesus’ apostle, and he represents religion and connects the Lord of the Flies to the Bible. Percival is also the name of one of King Arthur's knights. He is described as so innocent and naïve that he gets to go on the quest to find the Holy Grail. Thus, we can say that William Golding is trying to establish a connection to make the kid seem really innocent and harmless and also to heighten the tragic loss of innocence by the end of the story.
Notes:
Allegory (n.): A literary, dramatic pictorial device in which each literal character, object, and/or event represents symbols illustrating/showing an idea, moral, or religious principle; a parable, fable, story.
Characterization (n.): Is used to discuss physical traits, personalities, what someone says about a character, what they say or feel about themselves. (Direct/indirect)
Personification (n.): Giving human-like qualities/characteristics to inanimate objects.
We read a news article titled The Baby Name Business, which is about the pressure that parents feel to pick appropriate and appealing names for their child that will make them stand out from other kids. Traditional family and religious names are becoming less common and are being replaced with more creative names like “Jolt” or “Jilly.” Parents actually pay a lot for consultants and other help to find good names for their children. The main concern is that parents want their children to be unique and stand out, but also not be associated with negative things. Having a unique name will help people like employers or bosses to remember you easier. Parents also consider the history, linguistic origin, and associated personality traits that come with certain names. Research and studies showed that more common names tend to elicit more positive reactions, while unusual names typically brought negative responses. Giving children unique names, thus, is nothing different from dressing them really weird or differently. They would definitely stand out, but not necessarily in a good way.
This correlates to the novel Animal Farm because they correlate to the personality traits of the animal characters. For example, Old Major is wise, persuasive, and plays a huge role in affecting the other characters’ decisions. Napoleon is characterized as “fierce-looking” and "getting his own way." He is very turbulent and his lust for power connects him to the real Napoleon Bonaparte. Similarly, Squealer is Napoleon’s mouth who speaks on behalf of him.
Reflection:
The idea of the importance of names was not particularly new to me but what did strike me was the scope and intensity of it. I never thought that parents would pay hundreds of dollars for professional name experts and online guildes just to come up with quirky names for their kids. I knew that names carry meaning and association but I learned that one of the first things people judge you by is your name, and it can also make you easier to remember for potential employers, bosses, or other people who have power over you. It was also really interesting how directly the names in Animal Farm characterizes the characters. The name is a really strong method of direct characterization that George Orwell uses to paint a picture of the character from the start.
I think that everyone can learn from what we learned today and apply it to our lives. We should be mindful that someone’s name shouldn’t represent who they are, since it’s not their fault if their parents gave them a weird name. In literature, however, their names do represent who they are since the author gave them their names to represent who they are as a character. And finally, we can all learn from the thousands of parents who pay hundreds of dollars for someone to compile a list of names for your child.
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