Sebastian Lee and Annie Lu
We created a PowerPoint presentation with our personal questions regarding Homage to Catalonia to facilitate the class discussion.
We divided the questions/quotes into general categories, sharing and discussing the topics with the class in approximately the following order:
-The purpose, style and tone of the book (How was the book written? Why so?)
Point Of View
What was Orwell trying to achieve?
-The setting of the book (What kind of atmosphere did it create?)
Also: “Spanish” qualities, and their take on the war (“Mañana”)
-Politics
Subtopics:
War vs Revolution (What’s the difference?) – simplifying to “Fascism vs Democracy”
Motivations of the War (foreign interests, interparty skirmishes etc…)
The USSR’s effect on Spain
Anarchist and Egalitarian societies: how would they work?
Motivations of international fighters in Spain (e.g. Bob Smillie)
Skirmish of the Telephone Exchange: could it have been avoided?
The POUM microcosm: why was the class system unable to be abolished?
What happened to Georges Kopp?
–Miscellaneous: events of the book (Orwell getting shot in the neck, Rats, rats, rats! Weapons distribution to the public…)
-Religion: changing roles of the church