Animal Farm by George Orwell – An Additional End

It was a starry night, when this special meeting took place. Just a few animals had the guts to have a glimpse at the window; the youngest one amongst them was a little lamb. It grew up under the flourishing regime of Napoleon. Its name was Charles.

Charles woke up the other morning. It was a foggy morning. Charles blinked with his eyes. Thirsty as he was, he tried to figure out the shapes of the water trough, but he couldn’t find his path. Eventually he reached the almost empty water trough. While drinking in sips he was thinking curiously: “What is this all about? Why did father die in the battle? He was always optimistic; he would have known what to do. Why does nobody listen to me when I question things? Why can’t we speak out? Why can nobody speak out? We could find solutions together, solutions and commandments, which every comrade would have to obey with no exceptions and which every comrade would be pleased to obey.”

While little Charles was lost in thought the fog lifted. The sun raised and the farm’s outlines became clear bathed in bright orange light. Little Charles looked straightforward; behind him the zigzag pattern of his prints.

He was going to ask his uncle. The aged sheep was still asleep, so little Charles woke it up and asked nicely: “Uncle, tell me, why…” .The old sheep interrupted him immediately: “Four legs good, two legs better! This is the answer my dear boy, the answer to everything! Now go and play with your friends!”

“But I am not allowed to play with my friends.”

“Why not my boy?”

“Because they’re locked up in the hidden pen behind the farmhouse, the pigs did so.”

“What are you saying? This is not possible. Such pen does not exist. Comrade Squealer would have informed us about things.”

“I will tell you and I will try to explain to you, what I thought about this morning at the water trough. Then you will perhaps believe me that my two best comrades are locked up. By the way, if you remembered them by any chance, my two friends are Martin, who’s a great and persuasive storyteller with black wool and Stephen, who’s always drawing weird things on the ground, but I never figured out what he’s doing. He misses one leg and thus he can barely walk.”

“Let’s go for a long walk my dear uncle, and this time without tripping over anything.”

All rights reserved to Manuel Burger (written on the 19.02.14)

Animal Farm - Benjamin - Characterization and Symbolism

Beside the astounding, naive and gullible behaviour of the lower-class animals, a rather surprising attitude manifests itself during the revolution on Manor Farm. It is the careless and seemingly apathetic passivity of Benjamin. Why does a such sharp-witted and gifted donkey - with reasonable intelligence and profound perspective - refuse to take initiative or to intervene in such a crucial situation, when he realises that the original ideas of the revolution got abandoned?

It first may appear that Benjamin lacks courage or fortitude to take action against the rising abuse of power seen in the leadership of the pigs. But rather than that, it appears more to be his kind of wider, extensive mindset and perspective, which separates him form the rest of the animals and enables him to predict the final outcome of the revolution. It is also this overarching comprehension of the expanding abuse of power, which leads to his pessimistic and preposterous opinion of the revolution. This is expressed by his quiet, cynical comments and amused awaiting for the final outcome. It is thus his character, which indirectly contributes a philosophical and sceptical point of view to the story and assists to the awareness of the whole circling plot of the revolution. 

Benedict G. G2C

With what stillness at last

you appear in the valley

your first sunlight reaching down

to touch the tips of a few

high leaves that do not stir

as though they had not noticed

and did not know you at all

then the voice of a dove calls

from far away in itself

to the hush of the morning

so this is the sound of you

here and now whether or not

anyone hears it this is

where we have come with our age

our knowledge such as it is

and our hopes such as they are

invisible before us

untouched and still possible

- W.S. Merwin

Happy 2014! We hope that all of you have successfully completed the year 2013, and all of your resolutions from the last year have been fulfilled. For 2014, we wish you all a beautiful and magical new year, filled with abundance, joy, and treasured moments. For the students in exchange, we wish some happy last days and we are looking forward to listen to your adventure stories soon! For the ones leaving us in the second semester, we wish an unforgettable time and a lot of fun. And may for everyone 2014 be your best year yet!

Be at war with your vices,

at peace with your neighbors,

and let every New Year find you a better man.

- Benjamin Franklin

The Great Aaron & Ben