Animal Farm

1
Animal Farm

• By George Orwell

2
Background of Russian Revolution of 1917

• Karl Marx predicted, a German philosopher,
  developed the idewas that are known as the basis
  of communism. In The Communist Manifesto Marx
  imagined a society in which everyone shared
  equally in the wealth of the society, thus ending
  poverty.

3
Capitalism vs. Communism

• Economic system characterized by
• Private property ownership
• Individuals and companies are allowed to compete
  for their own economic gain

• A theory that eliminates private property
• Goods are owned in common and are available to
  all as needed
• Cooperation rather than competition

4
Definition of Propaganda

• information that is spread for the purpose of
  promoting some cause
• Word Reference.com

5
Examples of Propaganda

• Testimonials
• Get on the Bandwagon
• Name Calling
• Glittering Generalities
• Pain Folks Appeal
• Card Stacking
• Loaded Language

6
Testimonials

• Famous or influential people tell you why they
  use a certain product, are voting for a certain
  candidate, or are supporting a certain project or
  concept. For example, a person who is respected
  by teens is seen in an ad that tells about the
  dangers of smoking cigarettes or the value of
  joining a project to clean up the environment.
  Someone who is not known, but can be easily
  associated with a product or concept, tells an
  audience how a certain product made their hair
  thicker or helped them lose weight quickly. Or,
  a person easily recognized as a member of the
  clergy might be promoting a moral message.

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Get on the Bandwagon

• These messages tell you that everybody is doing
  it and you should join in. The technique is
  often used by organizations that are recruiting
  new members or participation in a specific
  activity. For example, you might be told that
  everybody is participating in a charity walk to
  raise money for a good cause, or to boycott a
  product to protest the abuse of workers. The
  message is often loud and repetitious.

8
Name Calling

• Sometimes this negative technique is used to
  label a specific person and other times to
  generalize about a certain type of person or
  member of a certain group. A political candidate
  might say that his opponent is careless with
  public money or that everyone in his/her
  opponents political party is careless with
  public money. The tactic is commonly used to
  gain support for controversial foreign policy
  initiatives. This technique is often used to
  insult all people of a certain race, religion,
  ethnicity, or age. For example, teenagers today
  are irresponsible and weird. The technique is
  often used to suggest that people from a certain
  nation are all terrorists or pacifists.

9
Glittering Generalities

• This technique uses slogans or simple phrases
  that sound good but provide little or no
  information. A politician might say, A vote for
  me is a vote for peace, without explaining how
  peace would be achieved. The technique might be
  used to sell a new miracle product using a
  slogan like, you will feel 10 years younger,
  but without explaining how it could make you feel
  younger. Catch phrases like family values or
  communists might be used to promote home,
  freedom, or patriotism without any information
  that tells you what the connection is between
  the catch phrase and the outcome that is promoted.

10
Plain Folks Appeal

• This technique is used to build trust. People
  are expected to assume that someone in a simple
  setting can be trusted and should be listened to.
  For example, a simply dressed senior citizen

11
Card Stacking

• This technique is used to show favoritism.
  Larger print, bigger or more attractive pictures,
  or a more attractive presentation of certain
  people or ideas are used to influence you.

12
Loaded Language

• Depending on the agenda of the person providing
  the report, the same person, group, or event can
  be made to sound better or worse. An
  understanding of this technique enables us to see
  that some phrases that might appear to be neutral
  descriptions can actually imply a value
  judgement. For example, if you favor a group and
  their agenda, you might call them a public
  interest advocacy group. If you dont like them
  they can be called lobbyists. Or in
  international affairs, the same group could be
  described as fighting for independence or
  freedom fighter if you agree with their cause,
  or as a separatist movement if you dont

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What is a Fable?

• Usually short
• Written in verse or prose
• Conveys a clear moral or message
• Date back to 6th Century Greece, B.C.E Aesop
  used animal characters to represent types.

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What is an Allegory?

• Any story that has multiple levels of meaning
• Most fables have two levels of meaning

15
Symbolism/ Interpretation in George Orwells
Animal Farm

• Farmer Jones
• Humans
• Old Major
• Snowball
• Napoleon
• Squealer
• Pigs
• Dogs
• Boxer and Clover
• Moses
• Beasts of England
• Windmill

• The farmer stands for the Russian Czar Nicolas II
  who was forced to abdicate after the successful
  February Revolution. In addition, Mr. Jones
  symbolizes the evils of capitalism, and the moral
  decline of men under this type of society.

16
Symbolism/ Interpretation in George Orwells
Animal Farm

• Farmer Jones
• Humans
• Old Major
• Snowball
• Napoleon
• Squealer
• Pigs
• Dogs
• Boxer and Clover
• Moses
• Beasts of England
• Windmill

• The Humans stand for the capitalists who exploit
  the weak. The gradual transformation of the pigs
  into human-like creatures represents the process
  by which the revolutions leaders became
  corrupted. Whether capitalist or communist in
  name, the underlying reality of many political
  systems is tyranny.

17
Symbolism/ Interpretation in George Orwells
Animal Farm

• Farmer Jones
• Humans
• Old Major
• Snowball
• Napoleon
• Squealer
• Pigs
• Dogs
• Boxer and Clover
• Moses
• Beasts of England
• Windmill

• Many believe Orwell made Old Major a symbol for
  Karl Marx, the father of the Communist belief
  system. Both Old Major and Karl Marx serve as
  the founders of a revolutionary creed, and both
  die before the revolutionary events they predict.

18
Symbolism/ Interpretation in George Orwells
Animal Farm

• Farmer Jones
• Humans
• Old Major
• Snowball
• Napoleon
• Squealer
• Pigs
• Dogs
• Boxer and Clover
• Moses
• Beasts of England
• Windmill

• Snowball represents Leon Trotsky. Like Trotsky,
  Snowball is a smart, young speaker who dreams of
  making life better for all animals. One of the
  early readers of the October Revolution,
  Trotsky was banished from the Soviet Union.
  While abroad, he was repeatedly denounced as a
  traitor by his native country, and wild lies were
  invented to discredit him. Trotsky was
  eventually killed in Mexico by the Russian
  internal police.

19
Symbolism/ Interpretation in George Orwells
Animal Farm

• Farmer Jones
• Humans
• Old Major
• Snowball
• Napoleon
• Squealer
• Pigs
• Dogs
• Boxer and Clover
• Moses
• Beasts of England
• Windmill

• Not as clever as Snowball, Napoleon is also
  cruel, selfish and corrupt. Napoleon is most
  clearly representative of Joseph Stalin, who,
  like Napoleon, ruled with an iron fist and killed
  all those who opposed him. On a deeper level, he
  represents the human weaknesses which eventually
  undermine even the best political intentions. In
  much the same way that Napoleon used the dogs-
  and Squealer- to control animals, Stalin used the
  KGB and cleverly worded lies (called propaganda)
  to control his people.

20
Symbolism/ Interpretation in George Orwells
Animal Farm

• Farmer Jones
• Humans
• Old Major
• Snowball
• Napoleon
• Squealer
• Pigs
• Dogs
• Boxer and Clover
• Moses
• Beasts of England
• Windmill

• The pig is an extremely persuasive speaker.
  Squealer convinces all animals to follow the
  revolution he could turn black into white.
  Squealer is believed to represent Stalins
  propaganda machine. Many identify Squealer with
  Pravda, the Russian newspaper of the 1930s.

21
Symbolism/ Interpretation in George Orwells
Animal Farm

• Farmer Jones
• Humans
• Old Major
• Snowball
• Napoleon
• Squealer
• Pigs
• Dogs
• Boxer and Clover
• Moses
• Beasts of England
• Windmill

• Orwell has chosen the pigs to represent the
  Communist Party loyalists. In the early years of
  the revolution they were concerned with the
  welfare of the common workers as time passed,
  however, they began to take advantage of their
  role as leaders. By films end, the ideals of
  the revolution have been sacrificed, and the pigs
  are indistinguishable from the farms original
  masters.

22
Symbolism/ Interpretation in George Orwells
Animal Farm

• Farmer Jones
• Humans
• Old Major
• Snowball
• Napoleon
• Squealer
• Pigs
• Dogs
• Boxer and Clover
• Moses
• Beasts of England
• Windmill

• The dogs constitute the pigs private army the
  pigs used the dogs to maintain a climate of
  terror which silenced all opposition to their
  rule. The dogs remain completely loyal to
  Napoleon throughout the novel, much in the way
  that the KGB faithfully supported Lenin and
  Stalin.

23
Symbolism/ Interpretation in George Orwells
Animal Farm

• Farmer Jones
• Humans
• Old Major
• Snowball
• Napoleon
• Squealer
• Pigs
• Dogs
• Boxer and Clover
• Moses
• Beasts of England
• Windmill

• These strong, hard-working horses live by the
  words I must work harder. Boxer and Clover
  represent the dedicated proletariat, Karl
  Marxs term for the unskilled labor class. They
  are drawn to the rebellion because they think
  they will benefit from its promises.

24
Symbolism/ Interpretation in George Orwells
Animal Farm

• Farmer Jones
• Humans
• Old Major
• Snowball
• Napoleon
• Squealer
• Pigs
• Dogs
• Boxer and Clover
• Moses
• Beasts of England
• Windmill

• Moses represents Orwells view of the Church.
  Though Snowball and Napoleon oppose Moses ideas,
  he is allowed to remain on the farm because he
  encourages hard work and submissive behavior.

25
Symbolism/ Interpretation in George Orwells
Animal Farm

• Farmer Jones
• Humans
• Old Major
• Snowball
• Napoleon
• Squealer
• Pigs
• Dogs
• Boxer and Clover
• Moses
• Beasts of England
• Windmill

• This songwhich becomes the official creed of the
  animals revolutionrepresents the Communist
  Internationale, a real song penned by supporters
  of communism in the early 1900s.

26
Symbolism/ Interpretation in George Orwells
Animal Farm

• Farmer Jones
• Humans
• Old Major
• Snowball
• Napoleon
• Squealer
• Pigs
• Dogs
• Boxer and Clover
• Moses
• Beasts of England
• Windmill

• The windmill stands for Russian industry. Soviet
  leaders focused on making Russia industrially
  omodern after the Revolution of 1917.

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Study Sites on the Internet

• http//www.gradesaver.com/ClassicNotes/Titles/anim
  alfarm/charlist.html
• History/ Background (starting at time of
  publication)
• Timeline of Select Events
• References
• Turner Learning. TNT Learning Animal Farm- An
  Educators Guide
• http//www.esrnational.org/whatispropaganda.htm,
  accessed on the Internet on September 28, 2003

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(Short) Important Character Listhttp//www.studyw
orld.com/studyworld_studynotes/complete/studynotes
/Titles/animalfarm/charlist.html

• Major (pig) respected by all, realized need for
  change
• Snowball (pig) great speaker, wanted best
  represents Trotsky
• Napoleon (pig) conceited leader a metaphor for
  Stalin
• Squealer (pig) persuasive, excited
• Boxer (horse) hard worker, very gullible
  metaphor for the Boxer Rebellion in China
• Clover (horse) loving, motherly
• Benjamin (donkey) cantankerous, rude
• Mollie (horse) frivolous, selfish disinterested
  in politics
• Mr. Jones the master of the farm he represents
  the old government
• Muriel (goat) knowledgeable represents the
  working class people
• Pigeons symbolize Soviet propaganda to the
  outside world
• Moses (Raven) a clever talker and a spy Mr.
  Jones' especial pet symbolizes organized religion

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Point of View

• The Novel In Orwell's novel, the point of view
  is quite limited. The narrator only tells us, the
  readers, what the animals themselves understand.
  We therefore identify with the animals--as they
  discover each new amendment to the farm's
  commandments we also discover it along with them.
  We are not treated to the pig's private
  conversations and therefore know very little
  about them except for their actions.

30
Irony

• The political message of Orwell's story relies
  very heavily on the irony created by its limited
  point of view. Irony results when there is a
  contrast between what an audience would expect
  and what really happens. Orwell uses dramatic
  irony. He relies on the difference between what
  the animals understand and what we, the audience,
  can conclude about the situation at Animal Farm.
  We know just what the animals know, but we can
  see so much more of its significance than they.
  When the pigs have a drunken bash soon after
  Boxer is taken away, we know that the pigs have
  used the money they got by selling him to the
  horse slaughterer to buy whiskey. The conclusions
  we reach that the animals never quite get
  to--that the pigs are decadent, corrupt, and
  immoral--are all the more powerful because we
  arrive at them ourselves, without the narrator
  pointing these things out directly.

31
Satire

• Orwell uses dramatic irony to create a
  particularly subtle satire. Satire stages a
  critique of an individual, group, or idea by
  exaggerating faults and revealing hypocrisies.
  The dramatic irony of Animal Farm achieves this
  aim indirectly. We see the hypocrisy that the
  animals don't and therefore understand in this
  backward fashion that the book is deeply critical
  of the pigs.