Recap

Orwell was wrong. Communism didn't end up taking over the globe. But there's still a reason to pay attention to this book. Do you hear those alarm bells? They're meant for you....

Good morning, class. Please take out your notebooks. We'll be starting our day with an arithmetic lesson. Everyone paying attention? Good. Here's our lesson for today. 2 + 2 = Class,...

The characters in Beowulf don't have any time for family dysfunction. They're all too busy being identified as each other's sons. We'll talk about the other ways...

Did you happen to take note of what happens at the end of Beowulf? I don't mean all the weeping and wailing about Beowulf's death. I mean what Wiglaf says starting in line 2887....

In Homer's Odyssey, there are stories upon stories upon stories. And you know what all that repetition means. In the Odyssey, storytelling is a motif! You are getting sleeeeeeeepy. Seriously,...

Let's take a look at a book about a boy who doesn't want to grow up. No, not Peter Pan. I'm talking about The Catcher in the Rye. There are two main things going on in The...

Pigs and sheep and horses and dogs. Sounds like the cast for an Old MacDonald music video, doesn't it? But these aren't just regular old farm animals. In George Orwell's...

There are animals that talk and a pig at the center of the story. But when you read Animal Farm, don't expect another Charlotte's Web. This book is pure allegory. On a farm in England,...

Want to know this novel's central symbol? It's right there in the title: Animal Farm itself. Are you getting the idea that Animal Farm—the novel, I mean—is an allegory? That's...

The plot of Animal Farm in one sentence. After this. Have you ever heard the expression, "Be careful what you wish for"? That's the plot of Animal Farm. Be very careful what...