(1903-1950)
Real Name: Eric Blair
British Political Novelist
Born: To English parents in India
He was sent to boarding school at
the age of eight to prepare for
Eton, an exclusive prep school.
Because he had a scholarship, he
was teased and humiliated
frequently.
At eighteen, he passed the Empire’s
Civil Service Exam and became a police officer
in Burma.
Returned in Europe
Socialist:
someone who
believes that the
government
should own
businesses so
that everyone
will be equal
Fable:
A short allegorical
narrative making a moral
point, traditionally by
means of animal characters
who speak and act like
human beings.
Allegory:
An allegory is a story with two
meanings, a literal meaning and a
symbolic meaning.
The underlying meaning generally
has moral, social, religious, or
political significance
Satire:
A literary manner which
blends humor with criticism for
the purpose of instruction or
the improvement of humanity
Animal Farm makes fun of
political society after the
Bolshevik Revolution.
Most fables have two levels of meaning. On the
surface, the fable is about animals. But on a
second level, the animals stand for types of
people or ideas. The way the animals interact
and the way the plot unfolds says something
about the nature of people or the value of ideas.
Any type of fiction that has multiple levels of
meaning in this way is called an allegory.
Russian society in the early
twentieth century had two
social classes: a tiny
minority (bourgeoisie)
controlled the country’s
wealth.
The working class was called
the proletariat.
Communism arose in Russia when the
nation’s workers & peasants rebelled
against and overwhelmed the wealthy and
powerful class of capitalists & aristocrats.
Farmer Jones
A drunk and a poor farmer,
his cruelty towards the farm animals
inspires their rebellion.
Snowball
A clever pig with a head for ideas,
he becomes one of the main
leaders of Animal Farm and
the author of its central commandments.
Napoleon
A pig with a gift for techniques of control,
he establishes most of the
farm’s rules and eventually
becomes its sole leader.
Old Major
An elderly show pig whose
instruction to the animals
about "animalism" becomes
the philosophical basis
for the creation of Animal Farm.
Squealer
A pig with the ability to make any
idea sound reasonable,
he is Napoleon's side-kick
and is in charge of communicating
to the animals.
Boxer
A strong and hard-working carthorse,
he shows tremendous
faith in the rebellion and its leaders.