Animal Farm by George Orwell

Transcription

1 Classification Exercise There are two pages to this exercise. Cut out the quotes on the second sheet and place them into the correct column of this chart. This will provide you with examples of quotes / actions that illustrate each of the major themes within the novella. Leadership and Corruption Control over the Intellectually inferior Deceit Rules and order

2 Classification Exercise Cut out the quotes on this sheet and place them into the correct column of the chart. Throughout the spring and summer they worked But suddenly the dogs sitting round Napoleon In addition, Napoleon ordered the almost empty The pigs did not actually work, but directed a sixty-hour week, and in August Napoleon let out deep, menacing growls, and the pigs bins in the store-shed to be filled nearly to the and supervised the others. With their superior announced that there would be work on Sunday fell silent and sat down again. Then the sheep brim with sand, which was then covered up with knowledge it was natural that they should afternoons as well. This work was strictly broke out into a tremendous bleating of Four what remained of the grain and meal. On some assume the leadership voluntary, but any animal who absented himself legs good, two legs bad! which went on for suitable pretext Whymper was led through the from it would have his rations reduced by half. nearly a quarter of an hour and put an end to store-shed and allowed to catch a glimpse of any chance of discussion. the bins. He was deceived, and continued to report to the outside world that there was no food shortage on Animal Farm. The birds did not understand Snowball s long Nevertheless, some of the animals were Napoleon was better at canvassing support for On Sundays there was no work. Breakfast was words, but they accepted his explanation, and all the humbler animals set to work to learn the new maxim by heart. disturbed when they heard that the pigs not only took their meals in the kitchen and used the drawing-room as a recreation room, but also slept in the beds. himself in between times. He was especially successful with the sheep. Of late the sheep had taken to bleating Four legs good, two legs bad both in and out of season. an hour later than usual, and after breakfast there was a ceremony which was observed every week without fail. They explained that by their studies of the The others said of Squealer that he could turn For once Benjamin consented to break his rule, THE SEVEN COMMANDMENTS past three months the pigs had succeeded in black into white. and he read out to her what was written on the 1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy. reducing the principles of Animalism to Seven wall. There was nothing there now except a 2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, Commandments. These Seven Commandments would now be inscribed on the wall. single Commandment. It ran: is a friend. 3. No animal shall wear clothes. ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME 4. No animal shall sleep in a bed. ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS 5. No animal shall drink alcohol. 6. No animal shall kill any other animal. 7. All animals are equal.

3 Comparisons with Historical Events Animal Farm is largely based on the events of the Russian Revolution. The chart below outlines some of the key events in Russian and Soviet history. In the blank column write a note to say how these events have been portrayed in Animal Farm. Event in Russian / Soviet history The Bolshevik Revolution The Bolsheviks win the Russian Civil War The New Economic Policy encourages some trade with non Communist countries Lenin dies and a group of Bolshevik s rule Stalin becomes a dictator Trotsky is banished and later assassinated Stalin s political opponents are imprisoned or executed

4 Get Creative! Lots of the language in Animal Farm is designed to portray different kinds of political imagery. In the real world this has been done many times through manipulation of all forms of media. Your task is to create an image of the Battle of the Cowshed that is designed to portray Napoleon as a great, fearless leader. Annotate the image to say why you have included different things.

5 Literacy Challenge Use EXACTLY one hundred words to explain what this quote means. All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

6 Character Analysis of Napoleon Character based on Political Ideology Key Actions Key Quote NAPOLEON Key Quote Personality and Ambition

7 Script Writing Task: Imagine you are a television news reporter. Write a script for a news broadcast about Old Major s speech. it should convey the Old Major s main complaints and outline his vision for the farm. Your script should be between 100 and 125 words long. Now, comrades, what is the nature of this life of ours? Let us face it: our lives are miserable, laborious, and short. We are born, we are given just so much food as will keep the breath in our bodies, and those of us who are capable of it are forced to work to the last atom of our strength; and the very instant that our usefulness has come to an end we are slaughtered with hideous cruelty. No animal in England knows the meaning of happiness or leisure after he is a year old. No animal in England is free. The life of an animal is misery and slavery: that is the plain truth. But is this simply part of the order of nature? Is it because this land of ours is so poor that it cannot afford a decent life to those who dwell upon it? No, comrades, a thousand times no! The soil of England is fertile, its climate is good, it is capable of affording food in abundance to an enormously greater number of animals than now inhabit it. This single farm of ours would support a dozen horses, twenty cows, hundreds of sheep--and all of them living in a comfort and a dignity that are now almost beyond our imagining. Why then do we continue in this miserable condition? Because nearly the whole of the produce of our labour is stolen from us by human beings. There, comrades, is the answer to all our problems. It is summed up in a single word--man. Man is the only real enemy we have. Remove Man from the scene, and the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished for ever.

8 Character Analysis of Snowball Character based on Political Ideology Key Actions Key Quote SNOWBALL Key Quote Personality and Ambition

9 Starter Activity. Beasts of England is an anthem that is sung by the animals after the rebellion. Here the text has been turned into a Word Cloud based on the number of times each word is used. What can we learn about the animals attitudes and beliefs from this Word Cloud? The second Word Cloud is of the text of the anthem, Comrade Napoleon. Compare these key words with those appearing in Beasts of England. What are the main changes in the attitudes and / or beliefs of the animals?

10 Turning Points There are a number of significant Turning Points in Animal Farm. As a result of these things change for different groups. use the chart below to track the impact of these changes on different groups. Things get worse for... Turning Point Things get better for... Mr Jones comes home drunk one night Battle of the Cowshed Snowball and Napoleon disagree about the construction of the Windmill The Windmill blows down Mr. Frederick dynamites the windmill

11 Wordsearch Words to find: Napoleon Manor Farm Animal Farm Snowball Battle of the cowshed Seven commandments Sheep George Orwell Mr Jones exploitation