Animal Farm 'And The Day Of The Triffids' By

The author Italo Calvino once said, “a classic is a book which has never finished saying what it has to say.” I will be showing how composers of classical texts convey themes that are still relevant in today’s society. Through use of both “Animal Farm” by George Orwell and “The Day of the Triffids” by John Wyndham I will portray literary devices and tools used by these authors to convey enduring ideas. Two universal themes I will be expanding on are morality and inequality.

Examples of composer’s of classical texts, and their use of timeless issues include Orwell using examples of correct morality. Throughout this novella, we see Napoleon making decisions in his own interest rather than the interest of others. His mind has been poisoned by
This book contains many situations where it’s unclear what decision is moral, and is a large part of the story. Many of the posed decisions had to do with Principal vs. Survival, in deciding whether it was right to save your own life, showing survival, or to help another who was blind and unable to help him/herself with the possible cost of your own life, showing principal. The quote, “As I came closer I saw why she did not run away – her hands were tied together behind her back, and a cord tethered them to the man’s left wrist.” Bill would have had the choice to risk himself to help her, or walking away and letting Josella get hurt. Through use of graphic imagery, Wyndham puts the reader in a situation where this lady’s situation is quite obvious, and showing the conflicting moral decision Bill is faced with. In Coker’s words, “It’s not their fault they’re blind, is it? It’s nobody’s fault- but it’s going to be your fault if they starve, and you know it.” This is an example of a conflicting moral decision, which is a large theme in this novel. It talks about decisions all sighted have to make; whether they should help other blind people, or help other sighted, as they are more capable. Use of a rhetorical question in this quote makes the reader contemplate what the right decision would be if they where in that situation. All these quotes are about many conflicting moral
Many sighted believe that sighted should remove themselves from the blind, and support themselves. “It's humiliating to be dependant, anyway, but it's still a poorer pass to have no one to depend on.” This quote shows perspective, and puts the reader in the shoes of one of the blind without anyone to assist them when they where incapable of doing tasks for themselves, and is left to die. “Man’s supremacy is not primarily due to his brain, as most of the books would have one think… His civilization, all that he had achieved or might achieve, hung upon his ability to perceive that range of vibrations from red to violet. Without that, he was lost.” In this quote, it shows how some see the blind as useless people who are a waste to feed. It implies sight is one of humanity’s most important features, and without it, humans aren’t equal. These quotes show the prevalent idea of inequality throughout this classic. This is similar to Animal Farm in that inequality causes a lot of problems and sadness to the victims. To this day inequality causes problems in society, with racism (animal farm, where different species are treated differently) and the less capable (blind in Day of the Triffids) treating people harshly because they are