In preparing to read, I came across an introduction from a high school English teacher who said it was his practice to not mention any context to the story prior to reading, that he first allowed the fable to speak for itself before having students draw connections to what characters represent who. I thought this was an interesting approach and given my complete ignorance of communism and soviet Russia, I decided to approach it in the same way. Though I do hope to brush up on the historical context more in the coming weeks. If anyone has recommendations, please share.
I do think that this approach made the fable itself more enjoyable for me. Though I knew how the story would end I still found myself shocked by the constant shift of the pigs from plotting to get rid of the farmer to becoming the farmer. I would often gasp and add little commentary to my husband "you won't believe what the pigs just did" The final line rung in my head for a while afterwards “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.” It was so unsettling, though I knew it was coming. It left me wanting resolution, but knowing there was none, it left me wanting to learn about this terrible real life event. I've spent more time than I expected trying to process it all, but I still haven't come to any conclusions. I look forward to hearing what others thought.
Hey! Your post caught my eye on my homepage and I just wanted to send some support your way. Whenever you have a moment I’d be grateful if you could check out my latest newsletter. I’m always happy to support and lift each other up!
In preparing to read, I came across an introduction from a high school English teacher who said it was his practice to not mention any context to the story prior to reading, that he first allowed the fable to speak for itself before having students draw connections to what characters represent who. I thought this was an interesting approach and given my complete ignorance of communism and soviet Russia, I decided to approach it in the same way. Though I do hope to brush up on the historical context more in the coming weeks. If anyone has recommendations, please share.
I do think that this approach made the fable itself more enjoyable for me. Though I knew how the story would end I still found myself shocked by the constant shift of the pigs from plotting to get rid of the farmer to becoming the farmer. I would often gasp and add little commentary to my husband "you won't believe what the pigs just did" The final line rung in my head for a while afterwards “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.” It was so unsettling, though I knew it was coming. It left me wanting resolution, but knowing there was none, it left me wanting to learn about this terrible real life event. I've spent more time than I expected trying to process it all, but I still haven't come to any conclusions. I look forward to hearing what others thought.
Hey! Your post caught my eye on my homepage and I just wanted to send some support your way. Whenever you have a moment I’d be grateful if you could check out my latest newsletter. I’m always happy to support and lift each other up!