Aim: How does “Chapter 7” of Animal Farm portray the psychology of memory and authority?
Do Now: Think/Pair/Share - What makes for a good leader? What qualities or attributes are associated with a good leader? Is there a point/degree in which a leader must forge ahead through their vision; despite the cost(s)? What cost is too great? How do you know?
Some of the attributes a leader should have are to be a leader and not a follower, they should be able to form their own opinion that isn’t completely based on the views of others, they should be intelligent, brave, wise, confident in themselves, have good morals, and be able to follow through with the promises they make. Interestingly, most leaders don’t follow all these attributes and tend to only make it seem that way only on their rise to power and once they achieve the power they were looking for they end up not showing good morals or following through with the promises they made to the people that put them in power. Our class agreed that the point at which a leader should stop is when they are going completely against the morals of the society or are creating too much of a danger to the people they are leading. Unfortunately, most leaders do not stop at this point and continue to push past beyond the point of following the rules in the society or the morals and don’t care about putting the safety of others at extreme risk.
How was memory portrayed in Animal Farm?
In Animal Farm, imperfect memory is exploited, for example the rules of the farm. The animals at the farm can’t perfectly remember what the rules of the farm were and only remember some of them so Napoleon uses this to his advantage and twists what the rules are and manages to convince the other animals that that’s what they always were and the animals have just forgotten. He was also able to change the facts about the events of the battle, convincing the animals that Snowball was clearly helping the humans as he fled. Memory is also used to keep the animals believing in what they are fighting for by singing “Beasts of England” to keep the animals remembering Old Major and how they successfully overthrew the humans.
How about authority?
In Animal Farm, authority is shown to be abused not only by Mr. Jones, but after the animals’ rebellion it is also abused by the pigs. When the pigs take control of the farm, they use the dogs to enforce their rule and hold their power. By creating consequences and controlling what the animals are told, the animals are not going to rebel because of what could happen to them. The pigs also create rewards for good behavior such as getting things done, which makes the animals think they can earn whatever they want with hard work and makes them continue to believe their best interest is in the mind of the pigs.
Class Discussion: What makes for a good leader?
A good leader must have both established authority and confidence. They must be able to have control over the population no matter what they do and have people follow. They must also be able to show their subjects confidence in what they are doing to keep trust from the population. When a leader does both of these things, they are able to suppress any rebellion and have a population that will follow and trust them. An example of this is how pigs have the dogs, giving them authority, and they show confidence to the other animals.
What are the updates around the world/community regarding the virus?
The world is slowly beginning to reopen after the quarantine but the virus is still a big issue. New York is expected to reopen soon but nobody knows how the different phases will happen and how likely it is that they will be put in place as they are expected to.
What are you learning about your world/community based on the reactions?
During the quarantine, I’ve learned a lot about my community. I’ve learned that the people in it are a lot closer than I thought they were. My neighbors still interact with each other, spend time together, and try to make the best out of the situation they are in. A lot of my neighbors have lost their jobs or are out of work for a while because they work in non-essential construction and it has been shut down by the government. They all pass the time by working on their cars, cleaning up their house, or just sitting on the porch and relaxing. This makes me feel a lot better about my neighborhood and the people in it as even in these conditions they do their best to stay positive and happy.
Your own personal feelings and thoughts about what is happening right now.
I’m concerned about what is happening right now because no one knows if school will reopen next year or we’ll have to continue remote learning in september. A lot of people have stopped being concerned about the virus and stopped practicing safe social distancing habits. I’d like to get back to school because I miss seeing people other than my family.
Reflection:
During this lesson I learned that memory is not trustworthy and people can easily be taken advantage of because of that. I also learned that while we want a leader to have good qualities such as fighting for the greater good, a good leader only needs two. The two qualities that a powerful leader needs are authority and confidence. If a leader has authority, they have power over the people they rule over, and if they have confidence, they can keep the trust of the people they rule over. When a leader has both power and the trust of their people, they can stop pretty much any rebellion.
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