Themes In The Importance Of Being Earnest

     In The Importance Of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde develops on several themes, one of the most prominent being dishonesty. All of the central characters lie whenever it is convenient to them, whether it is to save them the trouble of having to explain themselves, or to allow themselves to escape social responsibilities. Most notably, Jack and Algernon are regular "Bunburyists" who have gone to the exquisite trouble of creating fictional characters that allow them to escape their responsibilities in order to pursue pleasure. Interestingly, Wilde doesn't necessarily seem to be speaking out against lying in order to pursue personal pleasure. Instead, he centers the play around what happens when his characters dishonesty is discovered. He seems to be pointing out the consequences of dishonesty, if in a rather comedic manner, all the while maintaining a neutral tone towards the subject.
    
     Several motifs that show up throughout the play are epigrams, satire of society, references to the title of the play, the name Ernest vs. the word earnest, and the pursuit of pleasure. Much of the humor in the play is centered around epigrams, short, and in this case, often satirical statements about life. Towards the end of the book, Lady Bracknell mentions that long engagements are bad thing, because in her opinion it is a bad thing for couples to get to know each other before marriage. She is saying that people should deceive their fiancé about their true natures so that neither person ends up calling off the engagement. This is ironic because marriage is supposed to be about two people who love each other. The whole concept is defeated if both people purposely don't get to know each other until after they say their vows. This whole passage is a satire on society, particularly  the attitudes towards marriage during the time the play was written. The aristocracy viewed marriage as a business deal, and an opportunity to acquire more money or land, rather than a union between two willing individuals. Part of the plays humor is also based around the name Ernest, and the word earnest. Jack and Algernon both pretend to be Ernest, Jacks fictional brother. When they are playing Ernest, they are both very earnest. The irony is that while pretending to be Ernest, a very earnest person, they are deceiving everyone around them, the exact opposite of what someone who was truly earnest would do.

Animal Farm Projects

1.  Aaron- Artwork
He did a good job conveying part of Orwell's message of the revolutionary cycle, where eventually the revolutionaries turn into what they once fought against.
2. Molly- Movie/Trailer
More work went into this project than any other I've seen. Her group did a very good job of conveying all of the required criteria, through visual images. The fact that they actually went to a pig farm to film just helps make their project even better.
3. Alena- Movie
She did a good job of recreating the animals revolutionary spirit. I liked how they portrayed the pigs hypocrisy by showing squealer changing the commandments.
4. Sara- Artwork
She did a good job of showing the elements of the book through the setup of her drawing.
5. Sean- Comic Strip
He did a very good job of illustrating irony and hypocrisy within the story, made stronger with the numerous visual aids.
6. Leah- Comic Strip
I liked her original idea of showing what the pigs say vs. what they mean. It is an effective method of showing the pigs hypocrisy in the book.
7. Melanie- Video
I liked her idea of creating a powerpoint that outlines the plot of the book and works to show the literary elements of the piece.
8. Katie- Artwork
I thought it was interesting that she chose to depict the irony in Napoleon being tricked by Frederick, when at the same time he was cheating the other animals out of food, something I didn't notice when I read the book.
9. D'Andra- Poem
As far as I can tell, she was the only person in first period to choose to do a poem. I thought the repeating ends of each line was interesting.
10. Conor- Artwork
I liked his portraits of the characters, and their historical counterparts, but I think the way he edited the commandments was inaccurate. I thought that at the end the commandments were changed to simple "All animals are equal, but some are more equal."
In conclusion, after viewing most of my classmates projects, I feel that my groups was somewhere in the top 60 or 70% of the spectrum. I don 't think that anyone could argue that our project was the best, but it also wasn't the worst. I feel that we successfully conveyed irony, and the pigs controlling nature through our song, and dialogue. It wasn't necessary, but if we had had more time we could have added more visuals, in addition to the Animal Farm Flag.

Animal Farm

This video is a radio drama featuring the banning of the song "The Beasts Of England." In the beginning, the animals sing the song with a mournful tone, a reflection on their visions for the revolution compared to how it played out in the real world. Then, the song is banned by Napoleon, while the explanation given by Squealer hides the pigs true motives for banning the song. In the background, is the flag of Animal Farm.