Animal Farm: A

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Animal Farm A Fairy Story

• Fairy Tales, Parables, Fables Allegories

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Fairy Story

• We are getting ready to read Animal Farm by
  George Orwell. Yesterday/last night you read
  about Orwell in his bio.
• Now you have the book in front of you. You will
  notice that it is subtitled a fairy story.
• What does that mean?

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Fairy Story

• A Fairy Story is the same thing as a fairy
  tale.
• Can you name any fairy tales you know? Turn to
  your neighbor and take one minute to discuss.
  Write down as many as you can.

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Fairy Tales

• The fairy story, or fairy tale, is a type of folk
  literature found all over the world. It involves
  a highly imaginative narrative told in a simple
  manner easily understood and enjoyed even by
  children. While they do not have a moral, fairy
  tales instruct by placing their characters in
  situations that they have to overcome children
  who hear the tales can imagine what they would do
  in a similar situation. Fairy tales, also, often
  involve animals that can talk. Orwell gave his
  work the subtitle "A Fairy Story." The reader can
  surmise that the story told in Animal Farm is
  universal, with implications for every culture or
  country, and that it will be easily understood.
  Using "fairy story" to describe his novel is
  another bit of irony, because the political story
  behind the tale is far from the light
  entertainment the term implies.

http//www.answers.com/topic/animal-farm-novel-4
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The Massachusetts ELA Frameworks

• The Massachusetts English Language Arts
  Curriculum Frameworks, however, describe a fairy
  tale as A story written for, or told to,
  children that includes elements of magic and
  magical folk such as fairies, elves or goblins.
  (110)
• Which as you will see doesnt really sound like
  it would apply to Animal Farm.

Massachusetts English Language Arts Framework
June, 2001
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Parable

• In common parlance, a parable is a story or short
  narrative designed to reveal allegorically some
  religious principle, moral lesson, psychological
  reality, or general truth. Rather than using
  abstract discussion, a parable always teaches by
  comparison with real or literal
  occurrences--especially "homey" everyday
  occurrences a wide number of people can relate
  to.
• Well-known examples of parables include those
  found in the synoptic Gospels, such as "The
  Prodigal Son" and "The Good Samaritan." In some
  Gospel versions, the parables are announced with
  the phrase, "The Kingdom of God is like . . . ."
• Technically speaking, biblical "parables" were
  originally examples of a Hebrew genre called
  meshalim (singular mashal), a word lacking a
  counter-part in Greek, Latin or English. Meshalim
  in Hebrew refer to "mysterious speech," i.e.,
  spiritual riddles or enigmas the speaker couches
  in story-form.

http//web.cn.edu/KWHEELER/documents/Parable_Alleg
ory.pdf
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Fables

• A Fable is a short, simple story that teaches a
  lesson. A fable usually includes animals that
  talk and act like people (Massachusetts English
  Language Arts Framework 110).
• Hmmm, this sound more like Animal Farm.
• Have you ever heard of Aesops Fables?

Massachusetts English Language Arts Framework
June, 2001
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The Mischievous Dog
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The Crow and the Pitcher
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The Hare and the Tortoise
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What do they have in common?

• What did these fables have in common?
• Take one minute to think of (and write down) all
  the commonalities among these three stories.

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Allegory

• An allegory involves using many interconnected
  symbols or allegorical figures in such as way
  that in nearly every element of the narrative has
  a meaning beyond the literal level, i.e.,
  everything in the narrative is a symbol that
  relates to other symbols within the story.
• The allegorical story, poem, or play can be read
  either literally or as a symbolic statement about
  a political, spiritual, or psychological truth.
• The word allegory derives from the Greek
  allegoria ("speaking otherwise") The term
  loosely describes any story in verse or prose
  that has a double meaning. This narrative acts as
  an extended metaphor in which the plot or events
  reveal a meaning beyond what occurs in the text,
  creating a moral, spiritual, or even political
  meaning. The act of interpreting a story as if
  each object in it had an allegorical meaning is
  called allegoresis.

http//web.cn.edu/KWHEELER/documents/Parable_Alleg
ory.pdf
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What is Animal Farm?

• Is Animal Farm a Parable? A fable? A Fairy Tale?
  An Allegory?
• After reading the story we must ask ourselves
  these same questions. How do you define this
  story?