Unit 2 Animal Farm

1
Unit 2Animal Farm

• Lecturer Zhu Kunling ???
• 02/2008

2
George Orwell

• George Orwell (1903-1950), pseudonym of Eric
  Arthur Blair, was a famous modern British
  novelist, essayist, social critic and political
  commentator. He was ranked one of the two
  best-achieved satirists in English literature,
  sharing the laureateship with Jonathan Swift, and
  as one of the three foremost masters of political
  writing in 20th century, together with Adlous
  Huxley and Eugene Zamyatin.

3

• Orwell was born in India, where his father was a
  junior official. He returned with his mother to
  Britain in 1905 and grew up there.
• His childhood was a sad one. Prejudice and social
  distinction constantly haunted him and left a
  permanent dark impression in his mind. This
  childhood trauma nurtured his antipathy towards
  hierarchy and authoritarianism, which would
  become a major political subject in his writings
  later.

4

• In London Orwell lived together with the poor and
  sympathized with them, and he wrote about them in
  some of his books.
• When serving with the Indian Imperial Police in
  Burma, he witnessed the imperialists viciousness
  and the natives misery, which became themes of
  some other books of his.

5

• In 1936, he, as a socialist, fought in the
  Spanish Civil War against Fascism and
  totalitarianism.
• In Spain he witnessed the ruthless extermination
  of liberty by the Fascists and realized the
  danger of the control of thought through
  language.
• He left Spain with a complex understanding of
  power politics and totalitarianism.

6

• The Spanish experience was the most important
  influence in shaping his political writing.
• As he declared in 1947, Every line of serious
  work that I have written since 1936 has been
  written, directly or indirectly, against
  totalitarianism and for democratic socialism.

7

• The outbreak of World War II intensified Orwells
  concerns over humanity. He found that human
  liberty was being threatened.

8

• As a writer of artistic enthusiasm and political
  integrity, Orwell was outraged by all social
  injustices and evils.
• Throughout his life, Orwell has searched for a
  voice for his strong sympathy for human goodness
  and for his hate against all forms of social
  evils.

9

• In his writing, he successfully fused his
  artistic and political purposes into one whole.
  As he once noted, What I have most wanted to do
  throughout the past ten years is to make
  political writing into an art.
• During his short life of 47 years, he contributed
  abundant essays, journalistic reports, short
  stories and novels through his heart and pen, in
  all of which he exposed totalitarianism and
  social evils.

10

• His masterpieces are his last two novels, Animal
  Farm (1945) and 1984 (1948).
• 1984 satirizes totalitarianism by setting the
  story in London which is ruled by Big Brother,
  and Animal Farm is political literature in the
  disguise of a beast fable.

11

• Both of them express his major concerns
  totalitarianism, the corruption of power, and the
  demise of human nature.
• The two books won him international fame as a
  writer and a fighter against social evils.

12

• In addition, he tried to salvage English from
  corruption.
• He was known for his simple but vigorous language
  and style.
• When he died in 1950, he was eulogized as a
  saint as the conscience of his generation.

13
Animal Farm

• The story of happened on a farm somewhere in
  England. In the beginning, the oldest pig Old
  Major called on the animals for a revolution
  against their master Mr. Jones who maltreated
  them. During the revolution, the animals drove
  away Mr. Jones.

14

• The pigs, which acted as leaders, promised
  freedom and equality for all animals.
• But the most powerful pig Napoleon began to
  exercise a harsh rule, eliminating history and
  fooling the animals.

15

• For example, the pigs made seven commandments,
  one of which was All animals are equal but
  later they changed it into All animals are
  equal, but some animals are more equal than
  others.
• In this way the pigs enjoyed privileges of the
  ruling class and suppressed and exploited other
  animals through various cunning means, which was
  sheer totalitarianism, while freedom and equality
  were nowhere to find.

16

• The following text is Chapter 2 of the novel.

17
Warm-up questions

• 1. What do you know about George Orwell and his
  works?
• 2. What do you expect to read and experience in
  the fable Animal Farm?

18
Selected reading

• Three nights later old Major died peacefully in
  his sleep. His body was buried at the foot of the
  orchard.
• This was early in March. During the next three
  months there was much secret activity.

• In Chapter 1, old Major was the prophet of
  revolution.
• The animals were planning for a revolution. Can
  you find similarities between the animals
  preparation for the Rebellion and that of man?

19

• Pre-eminent among the pigs were two young boars
  named Snowball and Napoleon, whom Mr. Jones was
  breeding up for sale. Napoleon was a large,
  rather fierce-looking Berkshire boar, the only
  Berkshire on the farm, not much of a talker, but
  with a reputation for getting his own way.
  Snowball was a more vivacious pig than Napoleon,
  quicker in speech and more inventive, but was not
  considered to have the same depth of character.

• Pay special attention to Snowball and Napoleon.
  How were they different?
• What does Napoleons name and appearance suggest
  of his character?

20

• All the other male pigs on the farm were porkers.
  The best known among them was a small fat pig
  named Squealer, with very round cheeks, twinkling
  eyes, nimble movements, and a shrill voice. He
  was a brilliant talker, and when he was arguing
  some difficult point he had a way of skipping
  from side to side and whisking his tail which was
  somehow very persuasive. The others said of
  Squealer that he could turn black into white.

• What does Squealers name suggest? Why could he
  turn black into white? What does this mean?

21

• These three had elaborated old Majors teachings
  into a complete system of thought, to which they
  gave the name of Animalism.
• Several nights a week, after Mr. Jones was
  asleep, they held secret meetings in the barn and
  expounded the principles of Animalism to the
  others. At the beginning they met with much
  stupidity and apathy. Some of the animals talked
  of the duty of loyalty to Mr. Jones

• Can you guess the content of Animalism?
• Why did the animals have different opinions
  concerning the revolution and even object to it?

22

• The very first question she asked Snowball was
  Will there still be sugar after the Rebellion?
• No, said Snowball firmly. We have no means of
  making sugar on this farm. Besides, you do not
  need sugar. You will have all the oats and hay
  you want.
• And shall I still be allowed to wear ribbons in
  my mane? asked Mollie.
• Comrade, said Snowball, those ribbons that you
  are so devoted to are the badge of slavery. Can
  you not understand that liberty is worth more
  than ribbons?
• Mollie agreed, but she did not sound very
  convinced.

• What did Snowballs argument about sugar and
  ribbon suggest?
• Why was Molly not convinced?

23

• The pigs had an even harder struggle to
  counteract the lies put about by Moses, the tame
  raven. Moses, who was Mr. Joness especial pet,
  was a spy and a tale-bearer, but he was also a
  clever talker. He claimed to know of the
  existence of a mysterious country called
  Sugarcandy Mountain, to which all animals went
  when they died.

• What does Moses name imply?
• Why did some animals hate him while some others
  believe in what he said?
• (Christianity Moses led the Israelites out of
  Egypt to the promised land.)

24

• Their most faithful disciples were the two
  cart-horses, Boxer and Clover. These two had
  great difficulty in thinking anything out for
  themselves, but having once accepted the pigs as
  their teachers, they absorbed everything that
  they were told, and passed it on to the other
  animals by simple arguments. They were unfailing
  in their attendance at the secret meetings in the
  barn, and led the singing of Beasts of
  Englandsee note, with which the meetings
  always ended.

• Boxer and Clover were the most faithful disciples
  of the pigs think about the satire here.
• Why were they faithful to the pigs?

25

• Now, as it turned out, the Rebellion was achieved
  much earlier and more easily than anyone had
  expected. In past years Mr. Jones, although a
  hard master, had been a capable farmer, but of
  late he had fallen on evil days.

• Why did the narrator comment positively on Mr.
  Jones? Why were the animals unfed?

26

• This was more than the hungry animals could bear.
  With one accord, though nothing of the kind had
  been planned beforehand, they flung themselves
  upon their tormentors. Jones and his men suddenly
  found themselves being butted and kicked from all
  sides. The situation was quite out of their
  control. ... A minute later all five of them were
  in full flight down the cart-track that led to
  the main road, with the animals pursuing them in
  triumph.

• All of a sudden, the animals took up the
  revolution.

27

• Meanwhile the animals had chased Jones and his
  men out on to the road and slammed the
  five-barred gate behind them. And so, almost
  before they knew what was happening, the
  Rebellion had been successfully carried through
  Jones was expelled, and the Manor Farm was theirs.

• The animals rebelled against Mr. Jones. They
  destroyed all the tools and other things that
  belonged to Mr. Jones, and celebrated their
  victory like man did in a revolution.

28

• then they raced back to the farm buildings to
  wipe out the last traces of Joness hated reign.
  The harness-room at the end of the stables was
  broken open the bits, the nose-rings, the
  dog-chains, the cruel knives with which Mr. Jones
  had been used to castrate the pigs and lambs,
  were all flung down the well. The reins, the
  halters, the blinkers, the degrading nosebags,
  were thrown on to the rubbish fire which was
  burning in the yard. So were the whips. ...

• Why did the animals try to eliminate the last
  traces of Mr. Jones reign?

29

• In the ecstasy of that thought they gambolled
  round and round, they hurled themselves into the
  air in great leaps of excitement. They rolled in
  the dew, they cropped mouthfuls of the sweet
  summer grass, they kicked up clods of the black
  earth and snuffed its rich scent. Then they made
  a tour of inspection of the whole farm and
  surveyed with speechless admiration the
  ploughland, the hayfield, the orchard, the pool,
  the spinney. It was as though they had never seen
  these things before, and even now they could
  hardly believe that it was all their own.

• Can you imagine what the animals thought? Do
  humans react to a revolution differently?

30

• These Seven Commandments would now be inscribed
  on the wall they would form an unalterable law
  by which all the animals on Animal Farm must live
  for ever after.

• The unalterable Seven Commandments would be
  altered by the pigs later.

31

• THE SEVEN COMMANDMENTS
• 1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
• 2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is
  a friend.
• 3. No animal shall wear clothes.
• 4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.
• 5. No animal shall drink alcohol.
• 6. No animal shall kill any other animal.
• 7. All animals are equal.

• In the Seven Commandments, why did the pigs make
  a distinction between man (going upon two legs)
  and animals (going upon four legs or having
  wings)?

32

• It was very neatly written, and except that
  friend was written freind and one of the Ss
  was the wrong way round, the spelling was correct
  all the way through. Snowball read it aloud for
  the benefit of the others. All the animals nodded
  in complete agreement, and the cleverer ones at
  once began to learn the Commandments by heart.

• Why did the narrator comment on the spelling of
  the Seven Commandments?
• Did the animals accept them? Why?

33

• What is going to happen to all that milk? said
  someone.
• Jones used sometimes to mix some of it in our
  mash, said one of the hens.
• Never mind the milk, comrades! cried Napoleon,
  placing himself in front of the buckets. That
  will be attended to. The harvest is more
  important. Comrade Snowball will lead the way. I
  shall follow in a few minutes. Forward, comrades!
  The hay is waiting.

• Why were some animals interested in the milk? Why
  did Napoleon tell the animals not to mind the
  milk?
• What implication can you find here?

34

• So the animals trooped down to the hayfield to
  begin the harvest, and when they came back in the
  evening it was noticed that the milk had
  disappeared.

• The pigs had drunk the milk without being known
  by other animals.

35

• Summary
• This chapter describes the animals revolution
  against their human masters.
• Why did they take up the revolution?
• What kind of life did they expect to lead?
• Could the revolution really liberate them and
  offer them a better life?
• What political implications are hidden behind the
  animals revolution and the Seven Commandments?

36
Multiple-choice questions

• 1. Why did some animals object to the revolution?
• A. Because they feared that they might be killed
  in the revolution.
• B. Because they knew any revolution was false.
• C. Because they feared the powerful Mr. Jones.
• D. Because they were loyal to Mr. Jones who fed
  them.

37

• 2. Why were Boxer and Clover the most faithful
  disciples of the pigs?
• A. Because they knew they would be liberated in
  the revolution.
• B. Because they wanted a change.
• C. Because they had no independent ideas and
  could be easily fooled.
• D. Because they understood the revolution
  thoroughly.

38

• 3. Which of the following statements is not based
  on the Seven Commandments?
• A. Only those who had four legs are friends.
• B. Man was the enemy of the animals.
• C. Animals were not allowed to kill each other.
• D. Animals should sleep out of the house.

39
Comprehension questions

• 1. What ignited the rebellion? How did the
  animals drive Mr. Jones out of the farm?
• 2. Why did the animals destroy all the tools that
  man used to punish them, and eliminate all the
  marks of man?
• 3. How did the animals celebrate their victory?
  How did they feel when they realized that
  everything on the farm was their own?
• 4. Why was Animalism reduced to Seven
  Commandments?

40
Brainstorming and discussion

• 1. Discuss with your partners If you were to
  write the chapter following this one, what and
  how would you write?
• 2. Creative writing Write that chapter of Animal
  Farm as you imagine.

41
Good-bye!