Week 3: The Missing Link

Welcome to Week 3 of the Political Book Reports! This week I’ve learned a lot about the history of Animal Farm, went over the sources I was going to use in my analytical essay with Dr. Lisa, finalized my Animal Farm essay, finished 1984 (FINALLY and I’ve got a lot to say about it in my upcoming essay) and stalled a bit more on my We essay. And before I begin, I would like to say that this week was far more productive than the last.

This week Dr. Lisa and I brainstormed my first analytical essay on the first novel, Animal Farm– I would also say I focused a lot on Orwell this week. Through the use of JSTOR and eventually, I will be using ERIC and the Brooklyn Public Library, I’ve uncovered 6 sources and began an annotated bibliography with these sources, all pertaining to Animal Farm and Animal Farm’s history. Dr. Lisa has advised me to find an equal mix of historical and literary analyses of each novel. One of the many things I’ve learned was that in the 1950s, Animal Farm was created as a cartoon and promoted by the CIA in the United States, but was banned as a theater production in the 1980s. Now, I am aware of the missing link here, but through more research, I am determined to find out a lot more about the U.S.’s love-hate relationship with Animal Farm and George Orwell himself, as his other famous book, 1984, was banned shortly after its publication in the United States.

I also found a Guardian magazine source about how We and 1984 are the exact same book. Orwell has said on occasions that he read We, which was the inspiration for his novel, but at the same time, with this knowledge that they are the same book, having read them both, I thought it was quite strange how they elicited far different emotions in me. I might’ve mentioned this in my previous blog, but though We is an interesting story, it’s written quite dryly and unclearly, and I didn’t like it so much. 1984, on the contrary, was a thrilling, exciting and horrifying tale. There are a lot of factors that could’ve contributed to this feeling– it could be that I’m used to Orwell, it could be that Zamyatin’s original was in Russian and some words were lost in translation, it could be the huge difference in writing styles, it could be that the characters in 1984 are much more relatable than the characters in We, actually, it’s all of these and more. Though the plots are the same, they are very different novels. The Guardian states that Zamyatin’s novel deserves more credit than 1984 but I disagree. 1984 is structured much differently, and the writing style makes it easier to follow. I’ll be comparing the two a bit more in my 1984 response essay and my analytical essays of the two novels.

My greatest accomplishment this week is finishing 1984. I’m absolutely ecstatic to have finally finished two Orwellian tales, and might I say it differs from both Animal Farm and We. The reader response will be out next week hopefully. Next week I aim to complete the Animal Farm analytical essay with the sources I have gathered this week. I hope to find my missing links as this blog describes. Until next week everyone! Thank you for tuning in.