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 2nd 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
•
Napoleon
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•
Characters
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)
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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.
Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy
2.
Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is
a friend (replaced with “Four legs good Two
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
•
(replaced with “Four legs good Two legs bad”
in Chapter 3 but “bad” is changed to “better”
in Chapter 10)
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 without cause (Chapter 8)
All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others (Chapter 10)
In the end, only the altered 7th commandment remains
•
Corruption
Themes
– 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
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Symbolizes the Russian Revolution
Animal Farm
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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
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Hoof & Horn flag
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Represents the Hammer and Sickle of the Soviet flag
Battle of the Cowshed
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Represents Red October
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Referring to the Stalin’s purges of 1936-1938 where millions of Soviets where violently killed
Selling of the timber to Frederick
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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
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Civil war where the Tsarists tried to reclaim the nation
from the Communists
Windmill
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Government (the pigs)
Police force or military (the dogs)
Working class (other animals)
Symbolizes the WWII Nazi-Soviet pact
Battle of the Windmill
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Represents Battle of Stalingrad
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German invasion of Russia during WWII
Good Luck on your exam!