Example Chapter Summary Post

Today I began reading Animal Farm, by George Orwell. For this week, I read chapter 1. So far, it seems to be an allegorical tale where animals take on anthropomorphic qualities, forming a barnyard society of their own, unbeknownst to their ‘owner,’ Mr. Jones.

The main character at this point appears to be a pig named Major who, nearing the end of his life, has called a meeting of the barnyard animals to urge them to revolt against the tyranny of man. Because he addresses his fellow animals as ‘comrades,’ and urges them to throw off the yoke of their oppressors, I am beginning to think that maybe this story is intended to draw parallels with Socialism or perhaps Communism.

Although it is difficult to tell at this point just how the author feels about the idea of Socialism, I suspect that he may not like it very much because of an unflattering reference he makes to propaganda, in the form of a song called ‘Beasts of England’ that Major teaches the other animals. It is not the words of the song that make me think that maybe the author does not like the idea of Socialism, but rather the fact that he says about the animals singing it “Even the stupidest of them had already picked up the tune and a few of the words,”.

I do like writing style, which is simple, clear, and easy to follow.

I am interested to see what will happen when the animals revolt.

Example Reading Summary Post

    Reading Summary of reading 1, from Avery, J. D., Fellag, L. R. (2006). College Reading 3. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.

This reading serves to introduce readers to the general structure of college education, the subject of sociology, and further readings to be expected in the first chapter.

According to John Avery (2006), one purpose of the structure of college education is to provide students both a deep understanding of their chosen field, and a broad understanding of many other fields (p. 6). For a deep understanding of one field, students choose a major, which is the subject where they will take the most classes. To achieve a broad understanding of many fields, students are usually required to take courses in fields outside their major. Sociology is one of the fields students are often required to study.

This reading introduces the study of Sociology. Sociology is the study of human social behavior, particularly its origins, organization, institutions, and societal development (p. 7). Sociologists study group social behavior for patterns and investigate how social relationships affect group behavior (p. 7).
Sociology is one branch of the social sciences.  Other branches of the social sciences include Anthropology, Economics, Geography, Political Science, and Psychology (p. 7).

Sociology covers many subjects, including race and ethnicity. The remaining readings in this chapter will cover those two subjects (p. 7).

James Knaack

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