They say we live in the now, that the past is always gone, and that each day is a fresh beginning, a stepping stone towards a future we fantasise about even when it’s chilly outside. That, for me, is snow, those blustery, icy days of winter. However, I’m content to simply walk through it, leaving a few tracks of my own. I watch them tumble, those feathery gems, yet some of them are on their way to land in my hand, to land on these ungloved fingers and melt in my warmth.
Look at how the snowflakes are whirling; it seems like there’s a ghost standing there. Isn’t it incredible? Sometimes I worry if you’re following me around. On occasion, I’ll walk into the kitchen and see your bowl on your side of the table. I don’t eat apples, yet when I go to the grocery store checkout, I’ll discover a bushel of them in my basket. I don’t drink tea, but every morning at eight o’clock, the time you usually made it, I’ll smell the scent of your favourite blueberry tea. These things were intimidating at first, then nasty. Was it not enough that I had already misplaced you? Is it necessary to constantly reminding me of the pain? Then it occurred to me that it couldn’t possibly be you. You were never unkind to anyone. I came to the conclusion that I was simply going nuts and haunting myself. Isn’t that the more reasonable scenario? Even yet, I couldn’t help but wonder whether I had done something wrong to deserve this.
The Black Death, a plague that devastated Europe in the mid-fourteenth century, resulted in major impacts towards Christian religious beliefs and the church. The interpretation made of the Black Death by the church caused citizens to make accusations and movements that came out of those ideas.
Prior to the Black Death, the Church wielded near-total influence over Europe. When the plague struck, however, corruption grew so widespread that people were less likely to observe canon law. The pandemic was blamed on God by the people, who believed it was a retribution for their sins. The Church began to suffer quickly with thousands of followers before the plague. People turned away from the Church when disaster hit, blaming them for the epidemic. The people were enraged because the Church had no answer for the uproar. Because the people believed the Church to be omniscient, when the priests and bishops were unable to provide them with the answers they desired, the Church began to lose spiritual influence over its people (The Black Death, 2019). Religion had a prominent role in medieval society. Because of a lack of faith among the people of Europe, the plague caused many individuals to alter their lives in a new path. Many areas of religion were altered by the pandemic, including faith levels and attitudes towards other religious organisations. Many people’s lives in the 14th century were dominated by religion, because the church controlled the majority of authority in a normal society in Medieval Europe, their daily lives focused around a lot of religious activities (mvorganizing, 2021). However when the plague hit, it “…shook people’s confidence in conventional beliefs and authority” (Obstfeld 33). The plague had a tremendous influence on religion, since many people felt it was God’s retribution for their sins. As a consequence of the plague, “The monasteries and the clergy suffered the greatest loss” (Ziegler 215).
One medieval Christian perspective on the Black Death was based on the Book of Revelation and its notion of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: pestilence, war, starvation, and death. Christians took use of the religious context to rationalise and endure the dreadful disease that was ravaging Europe. Others thought the Plague was a sign that Christ’s return to govern the world was near. Others blamed egotistical women and deceptive Jews for spreading the Plague over Europe (Wikipedia Contributors, 2018). While others were content with this biblical fact, other groups of Christians were of the view that the plague largely signalled the coming of Jesus Christ to reign the earth and other groups blamed women expressing a lot of pride together with Jews who were fraudsters to be responsible for the plague in Europe (Adalyn Trevino, 2019). The plague, in line with religious beliefs, was a retribution that God was enacting and directing at people as a result of pride. Humans had grown wicked in general, according to Konrad von Megenburg, who authored the Regensburg, and the epidemic was the climax of God’s wrath against humanity’s immoral actions (Adalyn Trevino, 2019). In Henry Knighton’s, Chronicle (c. 1398) it states: “The King of Tharsis, seeing so sudden and unheard of death among his subjects,… proposed to be baptised a Christian, believing that God’s vengeance had fallen upon his people by reason of their evil lack of faith…” aiding the belief that humanity had wronged and needed to be punished.
The Flagellants were one of the most severe religious movements to develop during the Black Death years. Hundreds of men, women, and children participated in the Flagellants’ horrific acts. They would walk up and down streets in towns and cities, whipping themselves with whips as punishment. The majority of the participants were ignorant common folk, with the exception of a few nobility or priests. They were known as “Brethren of the Cross,” rather than “Flagellants.” They were firm believers that the pandemic was a divine punishment for sin. They imitated Jesus, claiming that they were inflicting pain on themselves in order to atone for the sins of the world. Because they didn’t bathe very regularly, the virus spread quickly among them, killing many people. The Flagellants were despised by Pope Clement and the church, who condemned them in 1349 (The Flagellants – The Black Death, 2019). Following the Black Death, the Jews became targets of the movement’s wrath, with the movement accusing Jews of poisoning wells. Many members of the movement who were involved in enacting the punishment scenario, which was said to be carried out in order to save the world from another catastrophic plague, would gather in market areas and engage in the burning of Jews (Mark, J. 2020). Furthermore, the movement became the totem, or symbol, of European views and reactions to the epidemic, which they claimed was caused by the Jews’ evil conduct, and as a result, the movement played a larger role in persecuting Jews.
The Black Death epidemic has remained a major phase in human history for a long time. Its importance may be traced back to the plague’s destructive impact on humanity’s population. This was a time when the foundations of Christianity were rocked and torn, leading to the Protestant Reformation in following years. At the same time, the flagellant movements were translating their beliefs and becoming increasingly active in social concerns, while also encouraging Jewish persecution. The function and status of the church in society experienced considerable change as a result of this pandemic. Individuals began to distrust the church’s abilities after prayers failed to work and miracles to save people became scarce.
Over the last 20 years, information and communication technology has evolved significantly, with the introduction of social media being a crucial development. The speed of change is quickening. The evolution of mobile technology and the media, for example, has had a significant influence on the impact of social media. In terms of overall minutes spent online, mobile devices rule the world. They provide everyone the ability to connect from anywhere, at any time, on any device. Some impacts that social media has on the world is that it affects society, relationships and the world of work.
State owned media has the potential to threaten the personal information of the public as they can publish statistics based on the public records they have access to. It also may be biassed as it is the property of the government, who may not want certain information to spread in order to prevent panic, such as the panic with regards to overbuying toilet paper in the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. Social media has grown over the years, so has the risk of data breaches. As more and more information gets placed online, there is an increased danger of hackers, companies, and malicious interlopers mining your data in ways that undermine personal privacy. And in some cases, your data is outright stolen.
A bookshelf with destroyed books could represent concealed information, since the books have fallen with their cover up along with the pages of content faced down which may be representing unknown knowledge since only the cover is what is visible to everyone; everything is also messy with books destroyed which may be symbolising how books are rather useless, adding on the fact that all the books are slightly covered with a layer of debris and what it seems to be white splatters of paint may be indicating masking information or fake news.
The media has impacted me positively and negatively. I’ve been able to create new friendships, express my views and opinions, however it’s impacted my sleep schedule, and my thoughts of physical image; it’s also provided me with unrealistic views of other people’s lives. The media has kept me better informed about my friends’ lives and feelings and about issues and things that are happening outside of Australia. It’s influenced my individual views and beliefs, or it might’ve skewed my knowledge of a specific topic due to being provided false information, I’ll never really find out.
There’s something about the way raindrops
Fall to the Earth
It falls like the sky is crying
Above me
Cold tears patter on my face
I close my eyes
I cry in the rain so no one sees the tears you gave me
You'll never know how i feel
As we stand here crying
On a night of anguish and rain
Language and the use of eloquence are employed throughout George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm to establish more power. Mr. Jones is banished as a result of Napoleon’s unfair government, which is made possible through the control of words and language employed. The pigs used their eloquent ability and language manipulation to control the farm’s destiny in every circumstance that called into doubt their supremacy. The animals on the farm in this allegory highlight humans’ vulnerability to language manipulation, the false sense of righteousness and selflessness caused by loud words, and the power of persuasive speech without fully understanding the message.
Wired.com. (2021). [online] Available at: https://media.wired.com/photos/5fd940d7a2d1c6c2bdea0c00/125:94/w_1531
Animal Farm is written in plain, clear, and accessible language by George Orwell. Orwell avoids emotion and keeps description and conversation to a minimum; even the most heartbreaking passages of the text are written in a direct style. He concentrates on narrating the story, which allows the reader to focus on the lessons he wants us to take away. Orwell demonstrates how speech can be a strong instrument of persuasion through the pigs. The different ways of language that Orwell uses are persuasive questions, controlling questions, and repetition. An example would be, ‘Comrades’, he said quietly, ‘do you know who is responsible for this? Do you know the enemy who has come in the night and overthrown our windmill? SNOWBALL!’ pg. 47, there are uses of personal pronouns – Napoleon uses ‘Comrades’ and ‘our’ to get the other animals on his side and uses of questions and repetition – ‘Do you know who is responsible for this?’, ‘do you know the enemy..?’. Napoleon repeats the question and gives them his own answer ‘SNOWBALL’; here, questions are used to control.
Animal Farm investigates the use of propaganda to manipulate people. Orwell depicts the animals being controlled by standard propaganda techniques, such as songs, slogans, and constantly changing information, from the beginning of the novel. Singing “Beasts of England” elicits an emotional response in the animals, reinforcing their devotion to Animalism and the pigs. The use of phrases like Napoleon is always right or four legs good, two legs bad indicates their lack of understanding of the revolution’s sophisticated ideological and cultural ideals. The Seven Commandments of Animalism are always changing, demonstrating how individuals in control of knowledge may manipulate the rest of a population. The pigs, who serve as the leaders of the farm, are the only animals with a strong command of language. Snowball is an eloquent speaker who composes the philosophy of Animalism and persuades his fellow beasts with the power of his oratory. Squealer is adept at lying and spinning stories to maintain control. (For example, when the other animals are upset about Boxer’s cruel fate, Squealer quickly composes a fiction to defuse their anger and confuse the issue.) Napoleon, while not as smart or as eloquent as Snowball, is skilled at imposing his own false view on everyone around him, as when he falsely inserts himself into the historical record of the Battle of the Cowshed.
Happygamer.com. (2022). [online] Available at: https://happygamer.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/d84857c77530e4c156848e9193c72488.jpg
Language is employed as a tool of social control in a variety of ways. Squealer is a character who utilises language to keep Napoleon in power. In Chapter 6, it states, With some difficulty Muriel spelt it out. It says ‘No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets’ she announced finally. Curiously enough, Clover had not remembered that the Fourth Commandment mentioned sheets; but as it was there on the wall, it must have done so. Because Squealer and Napoleon can easily change the Seven Commandments without any animals noticing, this quote displays power manipulation. The pigs were responsible for rewriting history. The pigs in the story Animal Farm achieve authority and then use that power to influence the animals. From the start, Snowball and Napoleon had everything planned out. Napoleon was the mastermind behind everything, whereas Snowball was a traitor to the animals. In Chapter 7, Squealer was the one rewriting history because he put Snowball out there as Mr. Jones’ agent. Therefore, if anyone wanted to agree with Snowball was automatically assumed as a traitor and enemy to the animal farm. It’s not what actually is done, it is what others portray them as. Another way history was rewritten in Animal Farm involves the rules of Animalism. No animal shall sleep in a bed. No animal shall drink alcohol. No animal shall kill any other animal. All animals are equal. These rules are changed into No animal shall sleep in a bed ‘with sheets’. No animal shall drink alcohol ‘in excess’. No animal shall kill any other animal ‘unless killing is necessary’. All animals are equal ‘but some are more equal than the others’
The concept of Animal Farm is developed throughout the novel by George Orwell. All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others, according to the statement. That quote demonstrates how the story’s central theme is leadership and power corruption. Animal Farm is an allegory and satire about the Russian Revolution and how communism came to be. This prompts us to consider how language manipulation could have been used. Animal Farm shows how individuals’ susceptibility to language manipulation, the false sense of righteousness created by powerful words, and the effect of persuasive speech without fully grasping its meaning can frequently lead to confusion and weakness among the masses. Despite the fact that the characters in the story were animals that may be considered stupid, the novel demonstrates that humans are no better when it comes to manipulating one another via the power of words.
‘Then’ written by Morris Gleitzman, is a novel about a ten year old Jewish boy named Felix and a six year old girl named Zelda. The book is set in World War II in Poland. Felix and Zelda are on the run from Nazis until they come across a kind woman named Genia. Genia gives them a fake identity, food and shelter because she cares for Felix and Zelda. But the Nazis are trying to find all the Jews and the people who are against the Nazis. They want the people to suffer. In Then, not all people turn into animals but some people bring out their true kindness due to war. People can become violent, hungry and thirsty, but most importantly people are hiding in unexpected areas like animals and trying to not get caught, but some, even though this may be happening to them they will still try to be who they were before the war happened, kind and caring.
An example to which war turns people into animals is when Felix turns murderous near the end because of war. At the start of the book, Felix is hopeful that he and Zelda would survive and that he wouldn’t dare kill anything or anyone. All the way to the part where he sees that the Nazis killed the only family he had left. He feels numb and is heartbroken and that’s when he wanted to kill as many Nazis to get revenge, which is not like the Felix we knew at the start of the book. In the book, Felix says to Dov, “I want to kill as many of them as I can.” (Pg. 175.) From this you can tell that Felix intends to kill as many Nazis as he can, why? Because, everything the Nazis has done to his loved ones, he isn’t usually like this but the rage that the Nazis caused, gave him the temptation to kill. War is dangerous because you could change a whole lot just from one action, but if a family member dies or gets injured, you would avenge them and kill the people who caused the incident to happen.
Genia may not like Jews, but they are in danger and she has the courage to step up and risk her life to shelter Jewish people. Genia may be a normal polish woman but there’s a war happening and the Germans want to get rid of as many Jewish people as possible, she therefore decides to ignore her own opinion towards Jewish people and protect them; which also meant she was risking her life! Felix asks Genia “If you hate Jewish people so much, why didn’t you hand me over to the Nazis?” (Pg. 45.) this shows that when something brutal is happening, you could risk your life to protect those who are in danger, or protect yourself. From this, some people do what they think is best but there are always consequences which could mean that they could die for doing what they thought was best.
Amon is an example of a Hitler Youth character who expresses his kindness towards anyone, even in a horrible and dangerous situation. Despite Amon being apart of the terrifying Hitler Youth, he shows compassion to Felix and Zelda and making sure that they are cared for and are safe. Throughout the book every time Zelda or Felix gets into trouble, Amon is always there to assist them in anyway possible. Amon says. “Tell Violetta (Zelda) if she gets into trouble, to ask for me. Amon Kurtz.” (Pg. 149.) Morris Gleitzman is implying that even if you are apart of the Nazi or Hitler Youth, you have some good in you. Some people decide not to use it but some people do and it makes people feel that they are safe and are being cared about. Through this, Gleitzman demonstrates that it doesn’t matter what group you are in or who you are, you can still be amiable to people who are in danger and need help.
War doesn’t always turn all people into animals. Some people will become violent, others will become protective and desperate for shelter and food. Felix becomes violent towards the end, Genia may not like Jewish people but she knows they are in danger and decides to risk her life and Amon is apart of the Hitler Youth but is compassionate towards Felix and Zelda. Everything happens for a reason, this whole thing happened because of war, people showed their true kindness, people showed how violent they can be, people risked their lives for someone else; This all doesn’t happen on a normal day. But war can be dangerous because it could impact how you act in the future. War can turn people into animals but everyone is different.
