Veronica Royzen
Period 3
04/21/20
Blog #1
Aim: How does “Chapter 7” (of Animal Farm) portray the psychology of memory and authority?
Do Now: Think/Pair/Share
1) What makes a good leader? 2) What qualities or attributes make a good leader? 3) Is there a point/degree in which a leader must forge ahead through their vision; despite the costs? 4) What cost is too great? How do you know?
For the do now, our class discussed the different attributes of a leader. A good leader should have morals, be brave, make decisions that will benefit others, help others, and be selfless. In regards to Animal Farm, Napoleon doesn’t fit these attributes. His hunger for power causes the other animals to suffer. The pigs have more food than the others and sleep on beds inside the house. In my opinion, there is a point/degree in which a leader must forge ahead through their vision. If their vision will actually help society, then there should be a plan with steps to which their vision will be played out. If the leader’s vision will only benefit them and/or hurt society, they should not go through with their plan. As stated from previous lessons, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
How was memory portrayed in Animal Farm?
Memory played an enormous role in Animal Farm. The animals’ memory is being manipulated, as seen with the set of rules for the farm. Napoleon and the pigs change the rules to benefit them, but not the rest of the animals. Napoleon uses memory to twist the truth in order to put the blame on someone else. He blames Snowball for all of the animals’ problems, which makes it seem like Snowball is the boogeyman.
How about authority?
Before the rebellion, Mr.Jones used to hold power over his farm. As soon as the animals rebelled, he lost his authority and was forced to leave. Another example is Napoleon. His authority over the animals causes the animals to fear him and they obey his every command.
Why were the things that happened possible?
The events that happened in Animal Farm were possible because of manipulation. Napoleon told the animals his version of events, and due to his status in Animal Farm the animals believed him. They were told things that wouldn’t undermine Napoleon’s reign. The animals never knew the truth and lived in a lie. The lie they were living in allowed for these events to happen.
Enrichment: The Milgram Shock Experiment
The point of the experiment is to determine why evil things happen. Events like the Holocaust are horrific, and that begs the question as to why did the majority obey their leaders?
A fake experiment was set up with a student(actor), teacher (subject), and an experimenter. The person conducting the experiment told the subject that they were testing to see how punishment and learning were correlated. The “student” had to memorize word pairs, and if they made a mistake they were shocked. With every mistake made, the voltage of the shocks would increase. The purpose of this was to see how far people are willing to go.
The question remains if and when people obey. One explanation could be because of human’s will to survive by working together. By working together, they don’t feel personally responsible for their actions and they have a support group. People become part of a whole society because of the need to belong somewhere. Their need to conform causes them to accept the word of their superiors, no matter how bad or good the order is.
Class Discussion
1) What makes for a good leader? 2) What qualities or attributes are associated with a good leader?
A good leader must be brave, have morals, make decisions that will benefit society or team as a whole. Authority and confidence are associated with a good leader. If their authority helps society, people will want to stay with their leader. If a leader is hesitant, it shows that they are not fit to rule.
Memory and Authority Discussion Board
We have previously learned that Old Major based his philosophy on idealism, but that idealism didn’t last. It has also become abundantly clear that there are those who continue to wield significant power. Now, today we discussed memory, authority and their impacts on others. Based on your understanding of the aforementioned, create a post which addresses topic: 1, 2 or both, and respond to a classmate’s post as well. Identify a character which is using memory and authority to their advantage and explain how it’s being used to their advantage. How does the acquisition of this kind of power tend to affect both individuals in the novel and in real life?
For the discussion board, I answered the first question.
Old Major based his philosophy on idealism, but that idealism didn't last. It has also become clear that there are those who continue to wield significant power, such as Squealer. Squealer's role in Animal Farm is to spread propaganda that makes the animals accept Napoleon's decisions and authority. Whenever something goes wrong in Animal Farm, Squealer blames Snowball for everything, which increases Napoleon's power. The animals ultimately believe Squealer and remember that whatever happened is Snowball's fault. When the pig's stole the milk and the apples, Squealer justifies that it is scientifically proven that pigs need to eat apples and drink milk because it is good for their brains. Squealer's authority causes the animals not to question the pigs, which allows for the pigs to continue stealing food.
Reflection
In this lesson, I learned that people can use their authority to manipulate one’s memory to make it seem something else happened. Authority figures can use this manipulation to make people remember the twisted truth, instead of the whole truth. In Animal Farm, Squealer and Napoleon would always blame Snowball, who has long gone, for all the bad things happening on the farm. Using what I learned from this lesson has made me realize that our government does the exact same thing. No one really knows how things actually happened because everything is either on a need-to-know basis or told in a way that blames others to seem like good guys. I learned that I can’t blindly accept what is told to me without asking why.
Life at Home
Working from home isn’t not really ideal for me. My whole family works from home, and it can be stressful. On top of both of my parents working from home, they own an essential business. On some days my parents aren’t home for hours, and that leaves me to take care of my brother and the dog. Online learning does have advantages and disadvantages. An advantage is that I get to go at my own pace. A disadvantage is that I get to go at my own pace. Every person has a different pace, some fast and others slow. With most of the responsibility placed on me, finishing my homework can sometimes be a challenge. Being able to reach out to my friends has helped calm me down more than once during our time at home. Back in April, the pandemic was at its peak and I barely went outside, even to my own backyard. Over time, the paranoia and the number of cases started to go down. A lot of things started to calm down and slowly more stores started to open up. Our society as a whole is trying to move on and leave the pandemic behind. Many people have to start all over again with their jobs because this pandemic caused unemployment to severely increase. Many businesses were ruined and the owners lost their entire living. The pandemic has been horrible to our economy, and I feel like the best way to go through everything is to be calm and to believe that our government can do whatever they can to help those in need.
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