Transcript Animal Farm
Animal Farm
ENG2D Exam Review
Historical Context
• Karl Marx develops
The Communist Manifesto
and calls the working class to unite • 1917, Russian Revolution ousts monarch • Tsar Nicholas II and sets the scene for Soviet Communism • Vladimir Lenin becomes chief commissar • Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin become likely heirs to Lenin’s powerful position • 1924, Stalin organizes an alliance against Trotsky after Lenin’s death • Stalin becomes dictator of the Soviet Union • Trotsky is expelled and made a common national enemy • Stalin rules the Soviet Union with brutal intensity and purges (murders) approximately twenty million citizens
Plot Overview
• Old Major holds a meeting for all the animals on Manor Farm and tells them about his dream in which all animals live together without human beings controlling and oppressing them • When Old Major dies shortly after the meeting, three pigs – Snowball, Napoleon, and Squealer – create a philosophy called Animalism based off of Old Major’s principles • One night, the animals battle Mr. Jones, Manor Farm’s farmer, in a rebellion and run him off the property • They rename the farm Animal Farm and dedicate themselves to Animalism • The principles of Animalism, the Seven Commandments, are painted on the barn for all animals to see • At first the farm is prosperous and Snowball tries to teach the animals to read
Plot Overview
• Mr. Jones returns to try and reclaim the farm but Snowball leads the animals to defeat him again, in what they call the Battle of the Cowshed, keeping Jones’s gun as a token of their victory • Soon Napoleon and Snowball begin a power struggle over their conflicting plans for the future of the farm • Snowball develops a plan for a windmill that will benefit the animals on the farm but Napoleon opposes it • As the animals are about to vote on the issue, Napoleon unleashes large, fierce dogs he trained and has Snowball chased off the farm • From that point on, Napoleon declares himself and the pigs in charge of the farm • Napoleon changes his mind about the windmill and orders to have it built and the animals, especially Boxer the horse, devote themselves to completing • The windmill is destroyed after a storm and Napoleon claims that they have been sabotaged by Snowball
Plot Overview
• Napoleon uses his dogs to instil fear in the other animals and stages a purge where any animal allegedly allied with Snowball or opposed to Napoleon’s leadership is instantly executed • History is rewritten to make Snowball a villain • Napoleon and the pigs begin to act more like human beings by sleeping in beds, drinking alcohol, and trading with neighbouring farms despite the original principles of Animalism which forbade such actions • Squealer justifies all activities and convinces the animals that Napoleon is a great leader and making their lives better even though the animals (except the pigs and dogs) are cold, hungry, and overworked
Plot Overview
• A neighbouring farmer, Mr. Fredrick of Pinchfield Farm, cheats Napoleon in the purchase of some timber and then attacks the farm and destroys the windmill • Boxer receives major injuries in battle and is weakened, resulting in a fall during the 2 nd rebuilding of the windmill • Napoleon tells the animals he will send Boxer to a veterinarian but instead sells Boxer to a glue maker for money to purchase whisky • After years pass, the pigs become more and more like human beings by walking on their hind legs, carrying whips, and wearing clothing.
• The original Seven Commandments are altered and finally reduced to the single principle, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” • Napoleon allies himself with another neighbouring farmer, Mr. Pilkington of Foxwood Farm and Animal Farm is reverted back to Manor Farm • The animals are no longer able to distinguish the pigs from the humans
Characters
• Napoleon – Represents Joseph Stalin – Emerges as the leader of Animal Farm – Intimidates the other animals to gain power – Proves to be a violent, brutal, and treacherous dictator • Snowball – Represents Leon Trotsky – Challenges Napoleon for control of Animal Farm – Intelligent, passionate, eloquent, and less devious than Napoleon – Wins the loyalty of the animals rather than forcing it • Boxer (and Clover being the female counterpart) – Represents the working class – Has incredible strength, dedication, and loyalty to Animal Farm – Quick to help but slow-witted, has the motto “I will work harder” – Naively trusts the pigs to make decisions for him, has the motto “Napoleon is always right ”
Characters
• Squealer – Represents propaganda – Justifies the pigs’ actions and spreads false statistics – Uses language to twist the truth and maintain control • Old Major – Represents both Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin – Inspires the animals to rebel with his utopian dream • Moses – Represents religion – Spreads stories about a paradise called Sugarcandy Mountain where animals go when they die • Mollie – Represents the middle class that fled Russia soon after the revolution – Vain and attention-craving, misses wearing ribbons and eating sugar so she leaves
Characters
• Mr. Jones
– Represents Tsar Nicholas II – Farmer that runs Manor Farm before the Rebellion – Indulges himself while his animals lack food
• Mr. Frederick and Pinchfield Farm
– Represents Adolf Hitler and Germany – Tough, shrewd, and untrustworthy
• Mr. Pilkington and Foxwood Farm
– Represents the capitalist governments of England and the U.S.
– Easygoing and gentlemanly – Enemies with Mr. Frederick
• • •
Seven Commandments
Over the course of the novel, changes are made to the original Seven Commandments The original commandments are in white and changes (including chapter in which the change was made) are indicated in red italics : 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy (replaced with “Four legs good Two legs bad” in Chapter 3 but “bad” is changed to “better” in Chapter 10) Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend (replaced with “Four legs good Two legs bad” in Chapter 3 but “bad” is changed to “better” in Chapter 10) No animal shall wear clothes No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets (Chapter 6) No animal shall drink alcohol to excess (Chapter 8) No animal shall kill any other animal All animals are equal without cause (Chapter 8) , but some are more equal than others (Chapter 10) In the end, only the altered 7 th commandment remains
Themes
• Corruption – Theme statement example: “Absolute power leads to absolute corruption and perversion of justice, liberation, and equality.” – Napoleon reigned tyrannically over Animal Farm because he had unquestioned power and as a result he brought about incredible violence.
• Society’s Tendency Towards Social Class – Theme statement example: “It is human tendency to establish and maintain class structure even in societies that are allegedly equal.” – Animal Farm originally set out for all animals to be equal but in the end some were “more equal” than others.
• The Danger of Naïveté – Theme statement example: “If the naïve choose to take others at face value and allow others to make decisions for them it could potentially lead to great harm for the individual.” – Boxer and the other farm animals believed whatever Napoleon and Squealer would tell them and assumed that whatever they did was right which brought them into great oppression.
• Abuse of Language to Abuse Power – Theme statement example: “Propaganda twists words and manipulates language in order to attain control and power.” – Squealer artfully uses language to justify the actions of the pigs and convince the other animals to follow Napoleon blindly
• • • • • • • •
Symbols
The Rebellion – Symbolizes the Russian Revolution Animal Farm – Also known as Manor Farm at the beginning and end of the novel – Symbolizes Russia and the Soviet Union under the Communist Party (or Animalism in the novel) – More generally, can also stand for any human society because it possesses the structure of a nation • Government (the pigs) • Police force or military (the dogs) • Working class (other animals) Hoof & Horn flag – Represents the Hammer and Sickle of the Soviet flag Battle of the Cowshed – Represents Red October • Civil war where the Tsarists tried to reclaim the nation from the Communists Windmill – Symbolizes Stalin’s ‘Five-Year plan’ – Both the plan and the windmill came with a promise to make life easier and both utterly failed Purges – Referring to the Stalin’s purges of 1936-1938 where millions of Soviets where violently killed Selling of the timber to Frederick – Symbolizes the WWII Nazi-Soviet pact Battle of the Windmill – Represents Battle of Stalingrad • German invasion of Russia during WWII