What form does the revolution
take place in animal farm?
By…
Sophie Andrews, Sam Worth, and
Emily Vicary
What does revolution mean?
Revolution is an uprising to change how something is
done in a different ruler/king/government.
The characters rebel against the farmer Mr Jones because
he is sometimes too drunk to remember some things that
he has to do to look after them. “was too drunk to
remember to shut the pop-holes.“
Another reason why they rebel is because Mr Jones (the
farmer) does not feed them enough. “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.”
Another reason is because of what happens on the farm
and how bad it is - after he has had the use out of the
animals he gets rid of them, e.g. the hens are fed just
that bit more so they can produce big nice eggs that
will attract people that go to the farmer for the eggs,
however, once they don’t produce nice eggs
anymore, they are slaughtered and shipped off either
to be killed and sold in the supermarket, or just
slaughtered and put in a black bag; then forgotten
about.
• Mr. Jones went out on midsummer's eve and got drunk at the
red lion, he then did not come back until midday Sunday. The
men had milked the cows and had gone out rabbiting without
even feeding one animal. Mr.Jones got back and did not feed
them either.
• " At last they could not last any longer without food. One of the
cows broke the door of the store shed with her horns and all the
animals began to help them-selves from the bins.“ This woke
Jones up. ”Next moment, the men and Jones were in the store
shed with “whips in their hands, lashing out in all directions, this
was more than hungry animals could bear, they then flung
themselves upon there tormentors”, Jones and the men where
now being kicked and butted from all sides.
• Meanwhile, “Mrs. Jones was looking out of the bedroom window
saw what was happening, hurriedly flung a few possessions into
a carpet bag”.
• Meanwhile the animals had chased Jones and his men out onto
the road and slammed the five barred gate behind them. And so
almost before they knew what was happening, the rebellion had
been successfully carried through; Jones was expelled and the
Manor farm was theirs.
What inspired the animals to
revolt?
• In Animal Farm the animals are inspired to revolt by Old Major in
chapter 1 when he assembles the animals in the big barn to tell
them of his strange dream from the previous night. Every animal
made their way to the barn that night as they were all interested to
hear what he had to say. But after all animals had assembled Old
Major gave a speech for all the animals to hear. He says to the
animals ‘now, comrades, what is this life of ours? Let us face it: our
lives are miserable, laborious and short’ here he is telling the
animals what are at the moment the facts of their lives. After this
part of his speech he goes on and talks about how man’s rein over
the land is but a mere fraction of how well off the world would be if
the animals were in control and how much of a waste of life man is.
He then tells the animals ‘why, work night and day, body and soul,
for the overthrow of the human race!’ Here he gives the animals the
message and instructions of what to do when he passes on. After
his speech the animals let out a tremendous uproar as if letting Old
Major know they backed his plan 100%. This was what inspired the
animals to rebel against their human counterparts.
How do the events and characters of animal
farm represent the events and people
involved in the Russian revolution?
• The events and characters of Animal Farm quite clearly
represent the events and people from the Russian revolution
quite clearly. From the start we see that Mr Jones resembles
Tsar Nicholas II - the person the animal’s rebel against - and
that Old Major represents either Karl Marx or Vladimir Lenin
the men who come up with and lead the revolution. Then we
come to Napoleon and Snowball the two characters that when
Old Major dies take it upon themselves to bring on the
revolution, Snowball represents Leon Trotsky the well liked
character who has the power to win over voters with his well
enhanced speeches. Napoleon we know takes on the role of
Joseph Stalin, a crafty politician who won his votes by forming
alliances with others. However the two of them could not bring
Russia forward working together so Stalin won power and
then banished Trotsky from the country, therefore with Trotsky
no longer in the public eye Stalin’s secret police were sent to
assassinate him.
How do the events and characters of animal
farm represent the events and people
involved in the Russian revolution?
•This is represented in Animal Farm during the extract: ‘at this there
was a terrible baying outside and nine enormous dogs wearing
brass studded collars came bounding into the barn. They dashed
straight for Snowball, who only sprang from his place just in time to
evade their snapping jaws’ then it goes on to show him leaving the
farm with the dogs in chase as it says ‘he was running only as fast
a pig can run, but the dogs were close on his heels’ ‘ then he put on
an extra spurt and with a few inches to spare he slipped through a
hole in a hedge and was seen no more’. Once Stalin had gained
power he used his slogan chanting masses (sheep) and
propaganda machine (Squealer) to continue with power. In Animal
Farm Squealer manages to win votes and the confidence of the
other animals by skipping up and down and using complicated
words. The sheep were taught by Napoleon and Squealer to chant
during crucial points in Snowball’s speeches. Then we come to
Boxer who represents the committed and dutiful workers who just
get thrown aside when it suits the leader and who represents the
bigheadedness of the leader Napoleon.