English-AnimalFarmAssignment.doc-AndrewNoske.docVIP

Smithfield State High School Year 12 English Andrew Noske Due: 27/3/00 A personal journal of and response to the novel “Animal Farm” by George Orwell. Studying the Outside What did you think of the cover… did it intrigue you… make you want to read the novel… and the blurb… were you motivated to read the novel after reading it? In terms of personal appeal, the front cover of “Animal Farm”, the sharp bold title over the lightly coloured, primarily pink illustration of pigs was sufficient in generating enough interest to look at least twice. As far as my insight took me, I made the immediate assumption that this was a children’s book… light fictional reading material and probably a pleasant story of the animals on a farm. It was not until I saw and read the back cover of the book that I realised how misleading the cover was. It was indeed a story of an animal farm, however it had become obvious to me that the book was not exactly intended for children and not entirely an easy read. The back cover with it’s two toned light colours went well with the general feel of the front even if it went against my taste, and the contrast provided with the blurb was somewhat of a mild shock. The first line, a quote from the writer of the book, abruptly introduced a political theme with an insight into the nature of revolutions. Only a short and concise paragraph was provided to illustrate the storyline of the book, but that was enough to provide interest. Quite predictable, the blurb also contained a couple of strong recommendations underneath, but my interest had already been captured. The concept of using the story of an animal farm to represent a national scaled revolution is certainly intriguing and thought provoking, and I could already see one irony expressed by this book. I could vividly imagine the number of adults in a library who would rule out the option of looking at a book like this without a second thought. They, not completely unlike me, would assume the book was ta