Sorry for the delay, but I am in need of assistance with respect to this novel. Here are the questions.
In this DBQ I will ask you to post individual comments to three questions. The first two questions will be general in nature and concern your interpretation of the novel in light of certain elements of fiction: plot, character, point of view, setting, etc. The third question will be specific to the novel you read: So, question three will have three parts: A, B, and C, and each will be applicable only to that novel. Once you have posted your responses to the questions below, please log back on and see who has written responses to your observations and comments. Then, reply to their responses or simply reply to someone else’s comments. A good post, i.e. response to the question, will be one that is reflective, serious, specific, and well written. A good response to someone else’s post, is one that informative, curious, questioning, and evaluative. Responses that simply “agree” or “disagree” with the original post without providing evidence as to why you “agree” or “disagree” will not judged favorably. So, please take the time to carefully read each post, consider its claims, and then post your response. Good luck!
Three Questions:
Question #1:
The plot within a novel is often more complicated and sophisticated, calling forth from an attentive reader a more sustained level of attentiveness and concentration. Evaluate your novel’s plot (don’t simply summarize what happened in the story). Did the story as it was told have the key elements of “rising action” (increasing tension), foreshadowings, conflicts, a defined climax, and then a resolution? In other words, did your novel display the classic “Arc of fiction”? If so, how and where, but if not, why not?
Question #2:
Most fiction readers today are deeply interested in characters. It is the character that often carries and defines a story. Evaluate the characters in the novel you read. Who would you consider the protagonist to be and why? Did the story contain a clearly-identified antagonist and how do you know that this person or entity was the antagonist? Next, what epiphanic moment (i.e. moment of climax — choice, enlightenment, or revelation) did the protagonist undergo? Was this revelatory moment “universal” and contribute to the story’s overall theme? Lastly, did you feel any sympathy or “oneness” with any of the characters? In other words, were the characters life-like enough to make you feel as if you were walking in their shoes and feeling what they were feeling? If so, how and where, and if not, why not–what was lacking?
Question #3
A. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding has done something remarkable—he’s put us (his readers) back in the Garden of Eden, but how so? What does this small story reveal that is congruent with that “older tale” of mankind’s entrance into paradise and subsequent first sin and fall from grace? The novel itself is rife with oppositions: goodness vs. evil, light vs. darkness, democratic rule vs. tryanny, and freedom vs. control, but what do these oppositions tell us about ourselves, each other, and the society’s we create and live within?
B. Animal Farm is a small book tha tells a big story—not unrelated in some ways to either Lord of the Flies or Fahrenheit 451. However, this story (novel) is an allegory. In other words, it’s a tale with a message, but what is that message? What is Orwell trying to say and is this message related to specifics of the novel? For instance, why doesn’t Animal Farm succeed in the end—or does it? After all, the pigs do remain in charge, but does the farm itself exhibit the kind of freedom that Old Majoy envisioned? Is there a kind of “blackness” at the heart of Animal Farm, and if so, where does it reside–in the rules (laws), the divided duties (hierarchy), or in the animals themselves? In essence, what is the moral of this allegory?
C. Is Fahrenheit 451 is a novel about “burning” — buring books, burning people (e.g. believers in certain old books or old ideas), people “burning” with curiosity, and finally, a world itself “burning down.”? Yes, I believe it is and even more. It’s also about the importance of ideas, the bonds of friendship, the absolute need to be free, how information is packaged, produced and controlled, how community is at the core of who we are, how humanity can flourish or be eroded by the things we watch, listen to, and follow, and how our government can foster what is best in us or seek to coerce, confine, and censor our bodies, minds, and spirits. Select at least two of the prior seven items and discuss their relevance, place, and importance in the novel. In addition, how relevant is this story (written in the 1950’s) to today’s consumer-driven and media-saturated society? Are there any parallels, and if so, what are they? And lastly, if our society is similar to the one described in the novel, will our “end” be the same? What will be our “salvation”?
