The Beauty of Perspective

When writing any piece of text, it is important to be mindful of how it may be perceived by various audiences. Although authors write stories with their own preconceived biases, once they publish it they are releasing their work to people of all genders, sexual orientations, and backgrounds. Without properly understanding the perspectives of others, authors are choosing to remain ignorant and thus their text may suffer as a result of it. After hearing all of the various literary classes, I was amazed to hear how one short passage could be interpreted in a variety of ways. It really made me think about how important perspective is when analyzing something. If everyone thought the same and had no original thoughts, modern literature wouldn't even be half as deep or enlightening. 

I found a quote by Frans Johansson that accurately reflects the beauty of perspective. He stated, "The best ideas emerge when very different perspectives meet." This quote emphasizes the importance of accepting differing perspectives as they ultimately lead to the best ideas. In class, after reading "The Story Of an Hour", we split up into groups to use various literary schools and analyze its relevance in the text. My group worked with Gender Studies which was further split into gender criticism, feminist criticism, and gay/lesbian criticism. I was blown away by the examples and explanations we analyzed, because I wasn't aware of the extent of the literary schools and how much detail it uncovers. 

I really loved what we did with the text in class and I wanted to do the same thing for the book I'm reading in class. I am currently reading "Animal Farm" by George Orwell and I thought that it would be very interesting to analyze it with feminist criticism. Here it goes!

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From the very beginning of the text, the very first characters that are thoroughly described are the male pigs on the farm, including Napoleon, Snowball, and Squealer. Nothing is said about any of the female pigs which is simply distasteful and reveals the hierarchal society reflected in the story. Additionally, it highlights the ideals on the farm place men above women. Another instance of politically inaccurate female representation is shown in the description of the hens. In the novel, the first time the female hens are mentioned is when the main male pig states their only purpose being to surrender 400 eggs. This is objectifying the females and reducing them to objects that help satisfy the men on the farm. The final piece of evidence I will be discussing is when the first female pig is introduced in the story. "While his favorite sow appeared in the watered silk dress which Mrs. Jones had been used to wear on Sundays," This description not only displays the pig as the property of the male but it also fails to give her a name like her male counterparts.           

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To put it colloquially, Animal Farm simply does not pass the vibe check. I am unsure if George Orwell blatantly disregarded the females in his story or if he wanted to reflect the ideals that were upheld at the time. But either way, any feminist or literary feminist analyst would be upset at the lack of representation and would most likely write a passage very similar to mine. This was a very fun activity for me and I'm so glad that it has opened my eyes to the importance of multiple, differing perspectives in literature. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed Storytime with Sejal!