Animal Farm George Orwell

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Animal Farm George Orwell
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Vocabulary for Animal FarmDue Jan. 7 Test Jan. 8

• Ensconced
• Preeminent
• Obstinate
• Cryptic
• Indefatigable
• Irrepressible
• Ignominious
• Sordid
• Malignity
• Machinations
• Benevolent
• Vivacious

• Tractable
• Conciliatory
• Superannuated
• Maxim
• Cynical
• Posthumously
• Pretext
• Intermediary
• Retribution
• Categorically
• Incumbent
• Capitulated
• Censured

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Plot and Setting

• Animal Farm is a political novel set on a British
  farm where barnyard animals successfully revolt
  against a human master who has exploited them.

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Novel Structure

• To convey his political message, Orwell employs
  the literary forms of allegory, satire, and
  fable.
• An allegory is a story that can be read on two
  distinct levels. Many of the characters in the
  novel represent the leaders of the Russian
  Revolution.
• A satire uses ridicule to make certain people,
  events, or institutions appear foolish.
• A fable is a brief, often humorous, tale that
  presents a moral or message.

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Conflict

• External Conflict The narrative is driven by
  the conflict dealing with the animals, such as
  the disagreements between Napoleon and Snowball,
  between the animals and the humans, and between
  the animals and the elements.
• Internal Conflict One of Orwells points is the
  lack of internal conflict because the animals are
  so easily swayed by Squealer.

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Characters

• Old Major
• Napoleon
• Snowball
• Squealer
• Boxer
• Clover
• Benjamin

• Mollie
• Muriel
• Moses
• Mr. Jones
• Mr. Whymper
• Mr. Fredrick
• Mr. Pilkington

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Themes

• The corruptive nature of power Orwell shows how
  both the leaders and the followers in a society
  can act in ways that destroy freedom and
  equality.
• The oppressed tightening the noose of oppression
  Orwell illustrates the limiting of individual
  freedom through the ignorance, inertia, or
  misplaced loyalty of the animals.
• Tyranny distorting history and language Orwell
  shows how propaganda techniques like those
  practiced by Squealer and accepted by the animals
  are used to justify a tyrant's decisions and
  actions.

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Historical Context Karl Marx

• Karl Marx was born in Prussia in 1818. He was a
  journalist whose unpopular views forced him to
  leave his country. Eventually, he and Friedrich
  Engels published the Communist Manifesto, a
  pamphlet outlining Marxs ideas about government
  and economics, including his belief that pure
  communism would be the inevitable outcome of
  human history.

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Historical Context

• In Russia, by the early 1900s, the writings of
  Karl Marx, increasing economic hardship, and the
  injustices of the czars inspired widespread
  revolt and led to the Russian Revolution.
• Czar Nicholas II was overthrown and later
  executed with his wife and children.
• A provisional government of revolutionaries
  assumed leadership.
• Seven months later, the Bolsheviks, led by
  Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the provisional
  government. (the October Revolution)
• The Bolsheviks renamed themselves the Russian
  Communist Party and became known as the Reds.

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Historical Context

• After Lenin died in 1924, a power struggle began
  for control of the Communist Party between two
  major contenders.
• Leon Trotsky was a talented party organizer who
  had played an important role in the Russian
  Revolution.
• Joseph Stalin was the secretary general of the
  Communist Party and favored a modified form of
  Marxism.

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Historical Context

• Following a struggle marked by assassination and
  betrayal, Trotsky was exiled in 1928.
• Stalin became dictator of the Soviet Union.
• Later his agents assassinated Trotsky in Mexico.
• Stalin instituted a series of Five Year Plans
  to increase economic growth, but goods decreased.
• Totalitarianism a form of government with a
  strong central rule that attempts to control
  individuals by means of coercion and repression.

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Who is Who and What is What

• Mankind
• Mr. Jones Czar Nicholas II
• Mrs. Jones Alexandra (Nicholass wife)
• Mr. Pilkington Leader of England
• Mr. Frederick Leader of Germany (many
  references to Hitler)
• Mr. Whymper Capitalist who did business with
  the Soviet Union.

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Who is Who and What is What

• Animals
• Napoleon Joseph Stalin
• Squealer Russian Media
• Snowball Leon Trotsky
• Old Major Karl Marx/Vladimir Lenin
• Boxer Working Class
• Mollie Upper Class
• Dogs Military/Police
• Moses Russian Orthodox Church
• Hens Peasant Farmers
• Sheep Masses following Stalin

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Who is Who and What is What

• Places
• Animal Farm The Soviet Union
• Manor Farm Russia
• Foxwood England
• Pinchfield Germany
• Willingdon Europe
• England Represents the entire world
• Farmhouse The Kremlin
• Sugar Candy Mountain - Heaven

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Who is Who and What is What

• Things and Events
• Animalism Communism
• Animal Committees Soviet Committees
• Beast of England Ideology of Communism
• Windmill Stalins Five Year Plans
• The Animal Revolt Russian Revolution
• Battle of Cowshed Red October
• The Hens revolt Ukrainian peasants bitter
  resistance to collective farming.
• Destruction of the Windmill Failure of Stalins
  plans
• Selling of the wood to Frederick Nazi-Soviet
  pact
• Battle of the Windmill Battle of Stalingrad
  (German invasion of Russia during World War II)